KJV Thompson Chain Reference Comfort Print Premium edition:

Being that I reviewed the updated NIV TCR just a few months ago in hardcover I wanted to do a brief review of the Premium bound goatskin KJV edition. 

The primary features of the Premium edition are: Black goatskin, leather lined, perimeter stitching, raised spine hubs, 36 gsm paper, overcast stitching, red under gold page edges, and the text is printed in black-letter only.

The black shiny goatskin binding is very soft and flexible, it can be folded and manipulated to any shape with little effort, it’s not at all coarse or stiff, and it has a cushiony feel. The liner is black leather, and the overall cover has a nice thickness. The binding is very well done, it’s edge-lined construction, by which the cover is glued to the liner and a tab from the liner is glued to the text block, then a vinyl coated endsheet is glued over the tab.

I don’t see any defects or negatives regarding the construction. The cover where it folds around the edge to the inside over the liner is very narrow, less than ¼” wide and it’s stitched. If there is any corner work, the folds in the corners are imperceptible to my eyes. The perimeter stitching is very well done with no rough edges or loose threads.  Overall, this is very fine and detailed work and it’s very clean.

There are five raised hubs on the spine and Thompson Chain Reference is stamped horizontally between the 2nd and 3rd hub.  The cover has about 1/2” of yapp, in other words, the cover overlays ½” past the edge of the book block. Inside the cover is a single gold foil line applied evenly around the perimeter.  

The page edges are red under gold, the art gilt is very well executed in a lighter shade of red which is a little closer to pink.

There is one sheet of white card stock end paper in the front and one in the back of the book, both are partially glued to a black vinyl end sheet.

There are three nice 10mm wide double satin ribbons, one black, one red, and one gold extending out 3” past the book block.

The paper is 36gsm which is a thicker paper than found in the other editions, this makes for a thicker and heavier Bible. The print is black-letter only and is a feature only available in the Premium, all other editions will have the words of Christ printed in red.

The paper is bright white, shiny, and is closer to eggshell. The printing in this edition is dark and consistent throughout. Being it’s a heavier paper you end up with a thicker book and it’s rather hefty, for instance the outside width of the spine is right at 2”, the thickness of the book block alone is 1.65”, and the overall weight is 3.8 lbs. The outside dimensions are 10″ x 7.5″ x 2″.

Layout: Just like the NIV updated edition, this is a two-column layout with the reference material set in the inner and outer margins, however, there are no translation notes in the KJV. The chapter numbers and the topical chain references are printed in dark red. The only difference in the print is, the premium is black-letter while all other editions have the words of Christ in red.

Update: As for the material found within the KJV, it is the same as found in the updated NIV, the only difference being is the translation. Most of the material has been updated and carried over from the original TCR.

I haven’t determined what all information has not been included. I’m thinking some of the material might have been redundant and repeated in different sections, so more than likely that redundancy was reduced in the update.

 The Archeological section has been removed and from what I understand the Archeological information was a bit “dated”, and hopefully, I’m not the only one who grasps the humor in that.  Zondervan did take a poll and the Archeological section was one of the features that wasn’t used as extensively, so it was dropped. The archeological site locations in the map section have been carried over to the new edition.

What illustrations that were carried over have been updated and a lot of that information has been converted into various charts and graphs giving it a more modern appearance.

The pictures or Portraits of Christ have been removed, which I think was a good idea, as for that information, I’m sure it has been absorbed into the updated material in one way or another.  With all of that said, some may miss the more visual aspects of the original TCR.

Recommendations:

The cover is very soft and floppy but with the additional weight of the heavier paper you almost want a stiffer cover.

In a perfect world, I’d like to see more margin space at the bottom of the page. The top and the bottom margin space is unequal, the bottom is narrower than the top, I’d almost rather it be switched, having the text closer to the bottom of the page looks odd to me, and I hope this is something Zondervan fixes in future editions.  

I also keep wondering what a single-column edition would have looked like, in my mind I can imagine the two columns being squished together into a single column, to me that might have been perfect.  Maybe somewhere down the road Zondervan may give us that option.

And … I’d still like to see some more economical editions in black letter text only, in an edition using the lighter weight paper.  

Some additional white cardstock end pages in the front and in the back would be beneficial, the black vinyl coated endsheet is partially glued to a single white cardstock end page and then you have the Presentation page which is pulled over about one inch when opened. To me the additional endpapers would give the Bible a more durable feel and would function a little better.

As I stated earlier, the KJV translator notes are not included in this edition, which I think is a mistake for any edition, being that the translator notes are a major part of every translation.

Overall, this is a very fine edition and it checks all of the boxes. It looks and feels like a premium Bible, yet it’s durable. The binding is very luxurious, it is Smythe sewn, and the quality of the Bible paper lives up to the binding. Although, as a result of the weight of this edition I feel like this might be more of a stay-at-home study edition, something better suited for the desktop, however it’s more than capable of heavier use.

I purchased my edition through ChurchSource.com which is direct through HarperCollins, i.e., Zondervan and Thomas Nelson Bible publishers. And it will be soon available through EvangelicalBible.com.