Another Rebound Knox

I am always delighted to share with you pictures and stories of people who have had their Bibles rebound.  Today, I am happy to introduce you to Tom, who had a vintage 1950's Knox Bible rebound by Leonard's.  Enjoy!

I've long wanted to do a Leonard's rebind since seeing one via Tim's blog.   I narrowed the choice of translation down to the Knox due to the clarity and freshness of the language, and briefly considered the Baronius Press edition but don't like the page layout. Instead, I settled on an 1950s Knox hardback from Sheed and Ward found on eBay.   Leonard's did a great job smoothing and repairing a few flawed pages in Jeremiah.  I chose the pebble grain cowhide, a semi-glossy black - love the traditional look and the raised edges along the spine.  Great feel as well, and I think of how this creature of God's (cow) gives praise to Him by covering the Holy Word. 

Biblical Knox

Over the weekend I was thinking about the available resources one is able to attain surrounding Msgr. Knox and his translation. Not only do we have the newly re-published Knox Bible from Baronius, but also a number of other books which can all be used in tandem with it.  I am not sure there is any other Catholic, at least in the English speaking world, that can match Knox.  

Consider this, with On Englishing the Bible we have a small collection of essays from Msgr. Knox which reveals his translation philosophy as well as examines particular translation issues that Knox had to deal with during his years of translating.  This collection is both frank in its assessment of his translating the Bible, but also quite witty and humorous.  I am not sure anything like this exists with the other major translations.  Would it not be amazing to have something similar from some of the other Catholic translations and their translators?  (The closest we have would probably be from Dom Henry Wansbrough and his essays on the New Jerusalem Bible.) 

Next, although out of print, is Knox's three volume A New Testament Commentary series which was published by in the 1950's.  Though utilizing his own translation of the New Testament, Knox constantly brings forth textual alternatives referring not only to the Latin, but also the Greek.  In many cases, he explains why he rendered a particular passage in that way he did, which again adds another level of clarity and is just simply fascinating.  The textual commentary found in these volumes helps to supplement the notes that are found in the Knox Bible itself.  Also, he provides some very insightful commentary, both theological and exegetical, on the New Testament passages themselves.  It becomes quite clear that although Knox was not a professional Biblical scholar, he was well versed in all the scholarly issues of the day and was able to aptly make his own contributions to the field.  This would be a great set for Baronius to bring back in print.  It can be found at some of the online used bookstores with only a little bit of effort and trust me it is well worth it. 

Finally, Ignatius Press still has in print Pastoral and Occasional Sermons by Knox.  As our friends at the Ronald Knox Society of North America point out: "Pastoral and Occasional Sermons is the largest collection of Ronald Knox's sermons and was republished in 2002 by Ignatius Press in a beautiful hardcover edition. It covers a wide variety of sermons on Christian themes as well as the feasts of the Church year, sermons for special occasions and panegyrics. In his introduction to the original edition Father Caraman, S.J. comments, "Only after I had read the sermons in this volume a second time, with the purpose of giving the references to Scriptural and other quotations, did I realize that this collection formed perhaps the most impressive body of pastoral teaching of our time. In scope and brilliance it appeared an achievement comparable only with Newman's Oxford sermons; yet more valuable because the idiom and message belonged to our own generation."  The Ignatius edition comes with an extremely useful scriptural index, thus allowing the reader to glean more insights from Knox on particular passages.  These pastoral sermons, which are deeply scriptural, provide an amazing compliment to his commentary series.

So all together, Ronald Knox has provided us a solid Biblical translation, relying on the Latin but with constant reference to the Greek and Hebrew (as indicated in his notes), a collection of essays that reveal his way of translating, a three volume commentary which examines the textual and theological issues of the text, and a collection of pastoral sermons about the scriptures.  If you think about it, this is pretty remarkable.  I am not sure that there is anything (or anyone) who can match this, particular for those of us who are English-speaking Catholics.  Thank you Ronnie!

Knox Rebound: The Finished Product

Yesterday, my rebound Baronius Press Knox Bible arrived. As I mentioned in my initial post about this project, the leather hardcover that the Knox Bible comes in is very good.  However, I really wanted to send it off to Leonard's in order that it be covered in premium leather.  So, below are a series of photos of my newly rebound Knox Bible.  Leonard's was great to work with over the past month.  Any question I emailed to them was answered within a couple of hours.  I will likely post some additional photos in the coming days, along with alerting you as to how the Bible is holding up to daily use over the coming months.

The Bible was tightly wrapped and sent via USPS Priority Mail

The Bible was rebound in dark brown goatskin leather

Blind stamping on spine and bottom right of front cover

Very flexible goatskin, with the addition of three brown bookmarks 

The Bible opens up flat on any page, from Genesis to the Apocalypse

Knox Rebound: It is in the Mail

Knox Rebound: It is Finished!

I am very excited to share with you a photo that Margie from Leonard's sent along to me.  I should be receiving this beauty sometime in the next couple of days.  Many pictures and reactions to follow.

Knox Rebound: Update 1

OK, Leonard's has received my Knox Bible and have provided me with an official estimate for the cost and production time for my Knox Bible rebinding.  So far my communication with Leonard's has been fantastic.  They have kept me updated, almost daily, on the project.    (Although I don't expect that this will be the case for the entire length of the project.)

To give you a little taste of the my interaction with Leonard's so far, I will share with you a recent correspondence that has to do with the leather being used and the issue of imprinting.  The color I chose for the goatskin rebinding, dark brown, happens to be brand new to Leonard's.  As a matter of fact, they don't even have it on their online pricing list yet.  So, Margie emailed me earlier this week to let me know that they were going to experiment with blind imprinting on this new dark brown goatskin, just to make sure it would look right.  Instead of using the standard gold or silver imprinting of "Holy Bible", "Knox Version", and my name, I really like what I have seen with blind imprinting, and so would like to see my Bible personalized with that tooling technique.  As they were experimenting with this new dark brown leather, they kept me up-to-date with the results of this experiment and even sent me photo of it, which you can see above.  I really appreciate the fact that they did this and didn't decide to use my Knox Bible as a guinea pig for this experiment.

In the end, I am quite confident that this rebound Knox Bible is going to look great when its completed.  I look forward to sharing with you any further updates and, of course, the final results.  Stay tuned!

Knox Rebound: Goodbye to My Knox Bible

Surely it won't be gone forever, but rather just for a short trip to Leonard's Book Restoration for a bit of a makeover.  For a long time I have been looking for an everyday reading Bible that would meet a number of my personal preferences.  As we all know, for just as there is no perfect translation out there, neither is there a perfect Bible edition.  However, the Knox Bible, published by Baronius Press, comes really close.  The hardbound leather cover is really nice, but possibility to have this Bible bound in premium leather is just too great!

In the end, there are three main reasons why I am having my Knox Bible rebound.  First, I really enjoy reading from the single-column page format, including the absence of paragraph headings found in most Bibles.  As mentioned on the Baronius Press website, the Knox Bible is "set in a single-column format with verse references placed at the side of the text in order to provide a clear and easily readable Bible."  I can't think of any other Bible that I own that I have enjoyed actually reading large portions of Scripture from more than this edition of the Knox Bible.

Secondly, the notes and cross-references provided by Msgr. Knox are helpful, well-placed, and not overbearing.  They provide just enough information, relating both to textual and theological issues, thus making them simply an aid, not a distraction, from reading the Sacred Text.  There are also cross-references which, as you know, are necessary for any Bible I am going to use daily.

Finally, a note about the translation itself.  I mentioned a few posts ago that the Big Three (NAB, RSV, and NRSV) are more similar than different.  I still stand by that statement.  Clearly the Knox Bible is more dynamic than literal, but I have increasingly become more comfortable with it for everyday reading.  I have enjoyed many of his fresh renderings, which depart from the standard construction found in the Big Three.  The biggest issue is the archaic English that pops up from time to time, however, I haven't been as distracted by it as I might have thought.  The New Testament reads really well and some of Knox's renderings I have used in the CBSM classes that I teach. I sort of understand now why there is an attraction to translations like the (New) Jerusalem Bible or New Living Translation.

So, what am I having done with my Knox Bible?  Well, I am going to have it bound in soft-tanned flexible goatskin.  The color of the leather will be a dark brown.  I am going to have three places where there will be blind imprinting: On the spine there will be "Holy Bible" and "Knox Version", while on the bottom right of the cover will be placed my full name.  In addition, I will have three brown ribbons added while the original (red and yellow) ones will be removed.

As the project moves forward, I will continue to blog about my experiences with Leonard's.  I look forward to sharing with you the finished product in the coming weeks.

I would like to thank Margie at Leonard's for putting up with a flurry of emails from me over the past week, as well as Corey, our Catholic Bibles Blog rebinding expert, for consulting with me on this project.  I also would like to really thank my wife for allowing me to do this as well!  :)