For quite some time there hasn’t been a premium large-print reference edition of the Bible available for purchase. The last premium large print Bible that I recall was the Presentation Reference or Turquoise by Cambridge, which is only available in the King James Translation. The problem being, this Bible has been off the market probably since 2006, and if you wanted one you had to buy one secondhand through eBay at an exorbitant price. So, if you happened to be in the market for a large print Bible and wanted one with a premium binding, well, you were kind of out of luck. But thankfully, Schuyler (Skyler) had the insight to produce a high-end series of Bibles with a larger print. About 2 years ago Schuyler Bibles contracted 2kdenmark to design a new layout for a Bible called the Quentel, which has debuted in the NASB translation.
The Schuyler Quentel has a very readable 11 pt. Milo Serif font and the layout is set up in a double-column paragraph format. Unlike most reference Bibles, which have references between the two columns of text, the Quentel has references located at the bottom of the page. The idea was to remove the references away from the text to make it less cluttered and more reader friendly. Not only is the text very readable, but finally there’s a Bible available with large readable references as well. I must say, 2kdenmark has done a very nice job, and if you’re not familiar with them, they are one of the premiere book and Bible designers. Not only does 2kdenmark design layouts for Schuyler, but also for many of the top Bible publishers such as Cambridge, R.L. Allan, and Crossway.
The main text in the Quentel is black letter only and the print is dark and consistent throughout, no faded and lightly printed sections in this Bible. For an attractive distinction, the Quentel uses a brick red ink for the chapter numbers and the book ranges located at the top of the page. The brick red adds a very nice and welcome distinction, which has been lacking in monotone black letter-only Bibles. Like the King James Translation, the NASB provides in italics whatever words are not found in the original language texts. Also, the Old Testament quotes in the NT are set in large capital letters. And, the NASB Quentel has the full set of Lockman 95,000 cross-references and translator notes.
For those of you who may be unfamiliar with the NASB Translation, it is known to be a very literal word-for-word translation. What exactly is meant by literal word-for-word translation? Basically, the text is taken as directly as possible, without changing the words or meanings, from the original Hebrew and Greek texts. To be fair, at times I have found literal translations can be less clear, so for comparison I’ve found it’s also good to use a less formal translation. And speaking of less formal translations, Schuyler has mentioned the possibility of producing the Quentel in the 2011 NIV, which I happen to find a little more readable, but please don’t misunderstand me, since I own several different editions of the NASB, and I really enjoy reading it.
The Schuyler Quentel NASB 95 was printed and bound by Jongbloed of the Netherlands. The paper in the NASB Quentel is rated at 45 gsm which is some of the heaviest bible papers currently being used in a bible. The opacity rating on the 45 gsm paper is listed as 84%, basically, it’s 84% opaque, or in other words, you have about 16% see-through of the paper. (100% opacity basically means you wouldn’t be able to see the print from the other side of the page). The Quentel also utilizes a feature called line matching where the print lines up on one side of the page with the other side of the page, which eliminates the shadowy effect you get with thinner-paged Bibles. With the opacity of this particular paper, Schuyler didn’t have to do this, but it is a welcome and added feature, if only other Bibles Publishers would do the same.
The Quentel is a premium Bible with excellent paper and print, however, it’s a little large. The size of the Quentel text block is approximately 6″ x 9″ x 1.75″, which might be a little heavy for some. To be fair, this is the tradeoff with thicker or heavier paper, with heavier paper you’re going to end up with a thicker book. Personally, I prefer a Bible somewhere in the 8″ x 5″x 1.50″ range, and eventually, I would like to see Schuyler make a little brother for the Quentel, something along the lines of a hand-sized Bible with or without references.
The prose sections are set in a paragraph format; however, the poetry books and sections are set in verse by verse.
The only real downside I find with the Quentel is with the Concordance, the size of the font was small in comparison to the main text and the references for the subject words were printed in red, which I find difficult to read. Not to be too picky, but I also didn’t care much for Schuyler’s ribbon placement, the four ribbons are stacked by twos and not spread out individually and evenly.
The outside of the Quentel is as stunning as the inside. Schuyler chose a very nice medium-weight goatskin binding, the binding is very flexible, and the grain of the goatskin is tight. The goatskin binding has leather liners, which adds to the flexibility and luxurious nature of the Schuyler line. Currently, the NASB Quentel is available in four different colors, Red, Blue, Dark Brown, and Black. Embossed in the leather on the front cover is a Jerusalem Cross, which denotes the five wounds of Christ and the gospel being spread throughout the world. Personally, I prefer a plain cover, but I must admit the Jerusalem Cross looks stunning and very tastefully done. All of the Quentel’s have red under gold page edges except for the Dark Blue edition, which has blue under silver page edges.
Overall, a very smart choice by Schuyler, most especially since the Quentel is the only premium large print Bible currently on the market.
ShepherdsBibleBlog.com 
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