So, I was at my favorite Catholic bookstore in Ann Arbor yesterday and saw a stack of new bonded leather Ignatius RSV-2CE editions. Certainly not a surprise to see them at this store, but the spine looked a bit different. It wasn't much, just that the lettering was a bit more bold and the spine seemed flatter. So, I opened it up, and viola there were some differences from previous editions. This has happened before, with the elimination of the glossy paper used for the first editions of the RSV-2CE a year or so back. You can read a little about that here.
So what are the differences:
1) As you can see with the photo, the old Nelson maps have been completely replaced by the Ignatius maps. Those of you who have the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible New Testament will instantly recognize them. The previous editions included around 9 Nelson maps, while this new edition includes a total of 15 maps. These maps cover the period from the time of Abraham to the Churches of the New Testament period. The New Testament maps are identical to those of the ICSBNT, and the Old Testament ones are of the same style. There are even maps for the Maccabean period of the 2nd Century BC. Overall, a wonderful upgrade to the previous set.
2) The next change is that the color of the paper is basically white. The last edition, which followed the glossy paper mistake, was more cream colored. The paper in these new editions are clearly white. Again, I think this is a great improvement.
3) Finally, while the previous editions mentioned that they were published through Thomas Nelson Publishing, there is no indication of this in this edition. The Bible seems to be published directly by Ignatius Press and printed in the USA.At this point, I don't see any changes in the text itself. If anyone is familiar with any typos in previous editions, I would be happy to check them out for you. I will keep reading through to see if there is anything different with the text. Overall, I think the changes, while perhaps minor, improve the readability and usefulness of this edition. Who knows, perhaps one day I will find a 4th edition of the RSV-2CE with a concordance.
19 comments:
Just to be clear -- the comparison I did here between the book of Jonah in the NOAB and RSV-2CE was based on the (now current) RSV-2CE edition with the Ignatius maps.
I must say that the Ignatius Bible maps are among the worst I have ever seen.
Theophrastus,
I don't think they are the greatest, but I have seen some that are far worse. An example would be the ones the Fireside includes in their Bibles. I am also not a fan of the ones in the JB or NJB.
I would say that they are better, simply because there are more of them that cover more periods of Biblical history.
Interesting -- I am not familiar with the Fireside maps, but I agree that the NJB maps are also poor (I would be hard-pressed to say to say which were worse -- NJB or RSV-2CE.)
Perhaps sometime you might review some Bible atlases. My own favorites are The Carta Bible Atlas and the Carta Sacred Bridge Atlas. I have to say that these atlases substantially aided my own understanding the Bible. Although they are expensive, they were well worth the cost to me.
Among less expensive atlases, I think the Oxford Bible Atlas is the best, and I think the Zondervan Atlas of the Bible is not bad.
Among specifically "Catholic" Bible Atlases, I'm not sure I've ever seen one. St. Joseph publishes a Bible Atlas which I have not seen, but it appears to be a generic Bible atlas (the same author publishes an atlas with Augsburg Fortress, a publishing house run by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.)
I also have the latest edition of the RSV-2CE and the previous one published through Thomas Nelson. Although I do prefer the white pages, the edition done by Nelson has a better printing of the icons in finer detail.
Jonny,
What do you think of the new maps?
I'm still waiting for the large (or giant) print RSV-2CE bible, I e-mailed Ignatius and they replied that it would be another 1-2 years. I'll just buy one of the NABRE giant print bibles in the next couple of months when they come out! The NABRE is slowly becoming my everyday bible.
Rolf,
Another 1-2 years is just odd. I am continuously amazed at how they market this Bible: Still no large print or compact edition, ocassional and unannounced changes to the RSV-2CE 'package', and who knows how long until the ICSB is fully finished. I would imagine the have some sort of plan?
Timothy,
Yeah I'm a little puzzled also, it has been nearly 5 1/2 years since the RSV-2CE was first published in 2006. Well, I do have it on kindle which I can make it a giant print. I also have the RSV-2CE Lectionary which of course is in a giant size print, and can use that for my daily readings.
Hi Tim:
I like the fact there are more maps in the latest edition. I like the mileage markers there, too. Overall, I like the new one better.
There is an huge group of interesting articles I found browsing "Web Directory: English Bible Versions" http://www.bible-researcher.com/links02.html. Among those I found amusing were some written by Protestants in response to the KJV-only phenonomenon. This author (http://www.kjvonly.org/doug/index_doug.html) relates a lot of info about the influence of Catholics in putting together the Textus Receptus; and the Vulgate and Douay Rheims in influencing the KJV. Also I found the severest extensive critsism on the KJV I have seen to date: http://www.zianet.com/maxey/Ver1.htm. These will be of interest to fans of the RSV, to learn more about the version it came from, and how it is a huge improvement in accuracy of translation.
I noticed the new edition in a local book store and it seems like the quality went down a bit. The spine, which is now flat and flush with the binding, does not open flat. The whole thing feels awkward.
The non-glossy paper is better though. But not the binding. My original 2CE is way better save for the paper.
I have the new edition (bonded leather), but never saw the older edition, so I can't comment on the difference in binding between the two. However, the new edition (bonded leather) opens flatter than the ICSBNT (bonded leather edition), and they are both published by Ignatius Press. Overall, I like the new edition (again, bonded leather) and think it opens flatter than other bibles I've seen (and have) and has nice paper quality. I just wish the ICSBNT opened flatter.
In addition to the bonded leather edition of both the ICB and ICSBNT, I have the bonded leather edition of the New Testament and Psalms, which I'd purchased first a while ago. That one has the glossy paper and was printed by Thomas Nelson for Ignatius whereas the other two were printed by Ignatius Press. It has a rounded spine and does open flatter than the new ICB and ICSBNT. I also notice that it was printed in China whereas the other two were printed in the USA.
It is possible that Ignatius decided it did not want to continue to have its bibles printed in a country like China that persecutes Christians and otherwise scores low marks for basic human rights.
I see in the photo that it does not have cross-references. Is that right?
Anon,
It does. Perhaps that page didn't list any. But yes, yet are typically in the bottom right of each page.
Thank you!
Would anyone be willing to post the isbn for this new edition? Thanks a bunch
Anon,
Leather edition ISBN:
9780898709360
There are also different dates of the Liturgiam Authenticam used between the two. ?
All dates for LA in this edition are dated 2001.
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