ESV Clarion Reference Bible, Brown Calfskin Leather, ES485:X: English Standard Version, Brown, Calfskin, Clarion Reference Edition

This is a beautiful Bible. Easy to read. Nice to the touch. Great layout. So, why the two stars? It's a great Bible to get provided you get a good, undamaged product! Right out of the box, the defects in this Bible were obvious. Several pages were somewhat damaged with creases and such. Not what you expect for a high-priced Bible like this. But, one page was so bad that it stuck out very conspicuously out of the edging (see photo)! How did such a Bible ever pass inspection? This is my suggestion if you decide to purchase this item: as soon as it comes, inspect every single page for defects.

FANTASTIC bible. Smaller and thicker than most would expect. Font is very readable. I wish the right margin was a bit wider though.

I have searched far and wide - wide and far for the top carry ESV reference bible and I believe the Cambridge Clarion is it. I own several premium and economy reference bibles. Each one has its merits and are beautiful bibles respectively. However, the Clarion simply has everything I am looking for in a reference bible. Firstly, the text block is in single column and the font type and 8.75 size are excellent. Single column is my favorite format. This makes it so much more readable and I do not find myself struggling to make out words in specific lighting. The one I purchased was printed in 2022 with the 2016 ESV text. The references and textual notes are easy to find and they’re placed on the side margins which is fine with me. I don’t really have a personal preference with this aspect. It can be in the margins, middle, or below and it’s all good. Although, I’m finding that having it on the side margins makes it a bit more accessible when I’m reading. Given this is meant to be a reference bible, I would say it’s a plus with the placement. Additionally, the extensive concordance and reference maps completes the content. In terms of build quality, I think it’s solid. I purchased the brown calfskin version and it has a nice feel. Although, I wouldn’t say it’s a huge difference from the split-calf leather. It’s a bit smoother in comparison and slightly softer. If you don’t really care too much about the leather and want to save some money, I would recommend the split-calf skin leather. I can’t really speak to the goatskin iteration, however. The liner is in the paste down variety, but it doesn’t take away from the solid build. The paper quality, although thinner, has a nice feel to it and I don’t really notice any ghosting. Art gilt (red under gold) is clean. Given the number of pages involved, the lighter paper is welcomed to an already fairly thick Bible. Despite its thickness, I have no issues carrying this Bible around. In fact, I enjoy carrying this more than some thinner bibles (i.e., thinline, compact). The included ribbons are okay - not my fave. Overall, this is my favorite carry reference bible. I have several Bibles (economy and premium) that come very close, but they do not match what the Clarion brings holistically. The leather isn’t my favorite compared to other publishers, but it still feels nice. I can overlook the not very exiting ribbon markers as well. For the price, it’s competitive with other premium reference bibles. If I had to choose one reference bible and only one, this would be the one.

This is a amazing Quality made bible, I have had a few, I had a pitt minion and a esv heirloom, and I think this clarion is by far the best bible I own, I have herd people complaining about the thinnest if the paper its but that thin, and it's line matched so it's really readable, it's goatskin leather is so soft and flexible, it's a great size bible for all purpose it's comfortable to hold even in one hand, I have also herd people complaining about page curling, I have not experienced that with any of my bibles, if that does happen though it should go once the bible is worn in a little, it's single column format and has the references down the side of the text, it's a type size 8.75 and a great font with nice spacing so it's really readable it's a nice size font considering the Pitt minion is 6.75 type, I think this is a great buy and you will be very happy.

Somehow this Bible seems to get everything almost completely right, from the binding to the cover to the page design. I love it. Sure, it's expensive, but to me it seems quite worth it. First a brief description: It uses the ESV text in the 2011 revision. Single column, black letter, cross references on the outer margins. Brief concordance (roughly 100 pages) and basic maps. No book introductions or study notes. The size (measuring the outer edges, not just the text block): 7.5 in. x 5.75 in. x 1.6 in., roughly. That makes it about an inch shorter and half an inch wider than a typical medium size text Bible (e.g., a pew Bible or a gift/award Bible). Also maybe half an inch thicker. I haven't weighed this Bible, but it's heavier than Bibles of similar size due to the extra very thin pages. This Bible is about 2100 pages long, and the pages have a reddish gold edging ("art gilt"). The publisher has used a font, font size and page design that are ideal for reading. Though there's not a lot of extra white space on the page, the line and letter spacing give the text room to "breathe" -- it feels comfortable, not cramped. In addition -- and this may be purely subjective -- somehow the overall impression I have while reading is that I'm holding a classic, or an antique, but at the same time something completely modern. I'm reminded of those classic Cambridge KJV Bibles from the 60s and before, but only in an impressionistic way. The details are all quite different. When I was younger I never owned one of those old Bibles, but reading this ESV Clarion I almost feel like that tradition is present before me, evoking memories of a childhood I never actually had. Part of this sense comes from the page edging visible while reading -- art gilt is a classic style, though I don't think brown calfskin is, let alone single column text. And the ESV translation seems perfectly suited to this treatment: no, it isn't perfect; it uses language sometimes derided as "archaic" and a few of the attempts at modernizing are awkward. I can see the value of self-consciously "contemporary" translations like the Common English Bible or the New American Bible (to name two good ones). But the ESV is clearly in the KJV tradition and evokes that tradition continually, while still relying on current scholarship and replacing completely archaic words with modern equivalents. So it's a mix that forces the reader to read slowly, and it stirs the memories of anyone exposed to the KJV early in life, because it retains as much of the beauty of the KJV as one could hope for in a modern translation. And this is exactly what the Clarion edition does in its design: it's both classic and modern. Simply holding it gives one the impression of participating in a long history of readers, interpreters and preachers, people who loved the word and who can still inspire us to love it as well. A few minor caveats: the paper is very thin and there is some "ghosting" -- I don't think this presents any great difficulty, but some might. I suspect the only way to eliminate this problem would have been either to use paper that would double the thickness of the book, or cram more text on the page so as to use fewer pages. The thinner paper was worth it to avoid those alternatives, in my opinion. Another small problem is that a few pages tend to curl excessively when the book is opened; a minor annoyance. And I would have preferred fewer section headings, preferably ones that reflected the actual structure of the text, or none at all, and to have those placed on the page outside the main text (cf Crossway's recent single-column paragraphed text edition). But those complaints are quite trivial. This is the most beautiful Bible I've ever owned, and I hope to be reading it for years to come.

Great bible.