The box for the Maclaren is fantastic. A clam shell style, with gold and black highlights.
Note: Eventually, I'm going to want to do video reviews of these bibles but am still trying to figure out the best way to record them, in the meantime....
This is the KJV Maclaren Large Print Reference bible by Thomas Nelson.
Let's take a look into this bible and why I think it's almost as perfect as it gets for presenting scripture.
I'll go through each picture above and explain what you will see in each:
The box itself is quite elegant, the gold and black tones really make it stick out.
On the reverse side of the box, is all the features of the Maclaren. And important note, this is not a study bible. It's only named after Alexander Maclaren, a Victorian era preacher. There is nothing but cross references and some maps for study tools inside...More on that in a bit!
The Maclaren series actually has 2 sizes, the large print and the compact. I own both. I absolutely love the compact version of this bible, and it'll end up being my travel bible for sure. There is a sizeable difference in footprints.
As for the cover...This is the brown leather soft, with 2 tons of brown on it. It's smyth-swen and when you hold this thing, you would swear it's real leather. So soft to the touch and it just feels right in your hands.
As for the paper, I heard it's 36 gsm and I believe it! It's some of the best bible paper I've ever felt. So easy to turn and opaque.
The print is 10.5 type size on the Thomas Nelson's KJV Comfort print...And wow! Reading this bible is a joy. This is arguably the bext type font across any KJV!
The gold gilding is great too. Creates a real elegant touch to the bible!
They measure this bible at 9.5 inches by 6.5 inches. It's a decent size but not too big that you can't handle it.
The words of Christ are in black throughout the text. The Maclaren's are all black text. Which at first, I wasn't sure how I'd like it. But reading it, it's become a great experience.
And finally, there are 2 silk ribbon markers, both brown toned!
Overall....
My journey to find the 'perfect bible' was almost done with the Maclaren. I absolutely love this bible. The touch, the paper, the text size...
A few things stop this from being my perfect bible:
It's a little too big for a personal sized bible. Not by much, the perfect size would be right in between the compact and the large print.
I'm not a big fan of cross references, and there are 72,000 of them in this bible. They are placed beneath the text block though, and honestly I haven't even looked at them because the scripture is the focal point.
And that's it really, if it a wee bit smaller and got rid of the cross references, this would be the perfect KJV bible in my opinion. For now, this is a strong candidate for my 'go to' bible, but this is a journey after all...
Let's see what the next review brings!