Well, another edition of the RSV-CE has been published this month. It is the RSV-CE Large Print edition, which seems to be jointly published by the folks at Ignatius Press and Oxford University Press. (There may be other partners in this venture as well.) The copy I was able to briefly look at was the Ignatius Press version, in the leather edition. It seemed to have a quality binding and heftiness to it, which was nice. Obviously the main point of its publication is the "large print" format, which I will tell you is pretty darn large: 13.5 print! I am always somewhat confused as to what consists "large print" in the publishing industry. I own a copy of the New Catholic Answer Bible by Fireside, which is suppose to be "large print", but I actually found the text to be not-so-large print. Therefore, I assumed that the New Catholic Answer Bible was "large print", which is why I considered getting this RSV-CE Large Print edition. But this is simply not the case. The RSV-CE Large Print is very large. As a matter of fact, if I were to designate the RSV-CE Large Print edition anything, I would probably call it "giant print". So confusing!
According to Ignatius Press, here are the "special features":
•Special section that gives the Lectionary readings so people who can’t make it to Mass can look up the passages
•Extra large, 13.5 point type, one of the largest type sizes available in a bible today
•A section of Prayers and Devotions of the Catholic Church that will be familiar to all Catholics
•A 16-page map section
•An 8-page Presentation and Family History section
•Ribbon Marker
•Deluxe Gift Box
•Gold-gilded pages
•Deluxe Leather edition
Just a couple of brief concluding comments:
1) Its nice to know that a Bible ribbon and a gift box are considered "special features".
2) I am glad that they added the Lectionary readings. It seems to me, being Catholic, that any Catholic Bible that doesn't include the Lectionary readings, at least for Sundays and Holy days, is seriously deficient. It seems to be such a no-brainer! (But there are many that don't!)
3) I love maps, so having a 16 page map section is helpful.
4) No cross-references or concordance? Hmmm......
5) Why not use the RSV-2CE? I generally like the RSV-2CE and would love to use it more often, so why not publish multiple editions of the RSV-2CE? I prefer the RSV-2CE to the RSV-CE, but I use the New Oxford Annotated Bible RSV for daily use in class and ministry work because I like the Oxford edition so much better.
5 comments:
I am always somewhat confused as to what consists "large print" in the publishing industry.
For one publisher's perspective, check out this link.
Elshaddai,
Thanks for the link. I appreciate the fact that the post mentioned that there is little consistancy. But going with the info from the NLT site, the RSV-CE Large Print really should be Giant Print.
Gold-gilded? What else could something be gilded with?
:p
I agree Tim, I think they should do more with the RSV-2CE, maybe Ignatius could work with Oxford and come up with a study Bible in that translation with the proportions of the NOAB RSV. I think it would be a good venture for both companies. Ignatius would share the RSV-2CE translation with Oxford, and Oxford could help produce and distribute the Bible which would give it a larger share of the Christian community.
meg, how about silver? ;)
rolf,
I wish they would just focus on promoting the RSV-2CE. They should have a website devoted to it, like the ESV and NLT ones. Clearly the RSV-2CE is an upgrade over the original, why not just focus on that one!
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