Saturday, October 17, 2009

New Douay-Rheims Edition


Published in cooperation with Tan Books, St. Benedict's Press has released a new edition of the venerable Douay-Rheims Bible. I was able to examine a copy at a local Catholic book store a few days back and was impressed with the overall presentation of the Bible. While I don't use the Douay-Rheims regularly, I have always hoped that there would be more stylish/modern editions of the Douay-Rheims available. This Bible is a definite step in the right direction. While some of the more recent Douay-Rheims releases have been fairly thick, this edition comes in the standard, medium size Bible range. The paper is the classic Bible paper you would find in most Bibles. The page layout is similar to that found in previous Tan Book Douay-Rheims releases, including cross-references and the classic verse notes. The edition I reviewed was the very flexible imitation leather/Durahyde cover.
Here is a bit more about it, from the Tan website:
Our Douay Rheims Bible is the only edition available with the words of Christ in red! Includes updated full color New Testament maps, beautiful pictures depicting the life of Christ. Complete with Family record and Presentation pages. This beautiful Bible is available in a durable black leather-soft cover, with gold edges and a ribbon marker and is packaged in an eye catching presentation box.
All in all, this is a very fine edition, particularly those who are interested in getting a stylistically newer edition of the Douay-Rheims. I only wonder why they didn't include any Old Testament maps, but overall it is an attractive edition which comes in multiple cover options.
It also seems that St. Benedict Press will be producing similar Bible editions with the NAB and RSV. More to come as details are revealed!
Update: Theophrastus the Great alerted me to an even better review of this new edition on another blog site. He even has pictures of the paperback edition.

4 comments:

Mike said...

I love the Douay-Rheims, and so recently purchased one of these. I absolutely love it. :-)

(I was unaware they were going to be publishing one of the RSV though....Glad to hear it, though. Thanks for the information!)

Theophrastus said...

Did they newly typeset it? Or is it still in the heavy Tan photoreproduced typesetting from decades ago?

Theophrastus said...

Well, I found this review with photos and yes, it seems that Tan has re-typeset the D-R. It looks pretty nice, even compared to the Baronius, which was the previous best edition.

Timothy said...

Theophrastus,

Yes, as you can see, it is slightly different. Very nice job overall and very user friendly. My only other main complaint is the decision to put Jesus' words in red, which is something I have never liked.