Tim, thanks for asking me to do a write up on my
recent Ignatius RSV-2CE compact, bonded leather, NT & Psalms. After becoming a big fan of your blog, and
Matt’s “Absolutely No Spin “ blog, I became familiar with what you and Matt
have done with having Bibles, Breviaries, etc. rebound in high-end
leather. Your site put me on to
Leonard’s Bible Restoration. They are
wonderful people. It is truly a “mom and
pop” shop that does top notch work.
Review of the Ignatius RSV-2CE compact
My “trial run” was going to be an extra copy I have of
the Ignatius RSV-2CE compact, bonded leather, NT & Psalms. Why? I
had an extra, “new” copy and my other “well-loved” copy is my
working/apologetics-pocket-Bible (well - NT/Psalms) copy. That copy well-loved copy was just too marked
up to justify an expensive leather rebind (IMO – some would disagree I’m
sure). Another reason I chose this Bible
is the cost/quality ratio. I think this
Bible is one of the best deals. You can
pick it up, usually, for under $20. For
being a “compact” Bible, the type is a typical size bible type size (10
pt?). It is very easy on the eyes. The paper is very good as well. No “ghosting” at all. Most ball-point ink note taking doesn’t show
through too much. And I think the gilt
edges are well done considering the price.
The drawback is that the cover is bonded
leather. With that said, I do think the
Ignatius bonded leather is very nice bonded leather. But it can only be so good and will always be
a far cry from genuine. And it will
simply not hold up long term to high usage.
So that made the decision easy for choosing this particular Bible
version to have rebound.
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My experience rebinding with Leonard’s
I can’t say enough for how nice and responsive
Margie and the gang are at Leonard’s. They
do it all by email. Margie helped me
choose the Chocolate "Soft-tanned Goatskin" with spine ribbing added. I had seen a photo on the Leonard’s site I
thought was perfect. And, for my first experience with
Leonard’s, I wanted to go with something I could see.
I really like the “blind stamping” of HOLY BIBLE on
the spine and my name on the front cover.
Leaving the gold out give it a more natural look to me. And there is no gold to flake off over time. I also went with the same 3 color
ribbons. One for the Gospel I’m in, one
for Epistles, and one for the Psalms.
Seemed like a lot of ribbons for only NT/Psalms, but aren’t we in three
sections every day in Mass? One of the
best spiritual direction advices I’ve received is “Stay close to the
Gospel.” To me, that means (1) read the
Gospel every day and (2) if you can, actually keep the Gospel close to your
body…hence, the RSV compact which can easily fit in my back pocket!
I have sent Tim some pictures I took with my other
copy of the RSV Compact for comparison (hope they help).
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Some friends and I are having a full size Bible
rebound by Leonard’s in black soft-tanned goatskin for our Pastor. And my family just sent off our grandmother’s
Bible to Leonard’s. So I’m THAT
impressed. I will share pictures.
Pax Christi,
Pax Christi,
Corey
Thank you to Corey for this wonderful review!
1 comment:
The next time I get a Bible rebound, I will definitely get the blind stamping done to it. It looks really good.
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