Customer Reviews

KJV Clarion Reference Edition KJ485:X Brown Calfskin Leather

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In short, none of Cambridge University Press's claims for their new setting of the King James Version are exaggerated. I am revising this review in December, and can say that I like it more and more in use, and find it the best reading-Bible I have ever tried.

Note that you can see a sample of text from each of the Cambridge bibles reproduced actual size in their printed catalogue, or downloadable from their website. I found this a big help when I was choosing which one to buy. For clear and readable print, beware of those that are reduced from an originally larger format, such as the KJV Personal Concord Reference Edition KJ463:XR black French Morocco (Bible Kjv Red Letter Edition).

The style of setting, one column to a page and in paragraphs (rather than divided by verse), is radically different to normal - very much a return to the style of renaissance humanist Bibles. Apart from the elegant page layout (with notes placed in the outer margin), the practical advantage of this is the (relatively!) large font-size. Even though the book is quite compact, I can easily read it, for example, while standing up with it open on a table. The Reader's Companion, combining concordance, dictionary, book introductions, and other essential background information in one alphabetical reference section, is brilliantly conceived, and the selection of material is finely judged to aid a basic reading. This edition also includes the original Translators' Preface.

It's worth pointing out that the paper used for this Bible is truly ultra-thin. But it is extremely strong, with a powerful 'memory': creases are very easily picked up, but they do tend to iron themselves out. Its opacity is high, and even though show-through is at its comfortable limit the print is strong and clear. The thin paper is well worth it to gain such large print in a Bible that is so light and compact. The brown cover is a sort of mid-toned chocolate colour, the leather moderately thick but flexible. It is also available in black, either a cheaper split leather calfskin (KJV Clarion Reference Edition KJ483:X Black Calf Split Leather) or goatskin (KJV Clarion Reference Edition KJ486:XE Black Goatskin Leather).

I have no real disappointments with the Clarion - just a few quibbles, really. But I'll mention them mainly just to give an idea of some of the details of the presentation.

It seems that the text is the 1769 edition of the KJV, not Cambridge's own new revision by David Norton, as used in the New Cambridge Paragraph Bible with Apocrypha KJ590:TA: Personal size (another reduction). I know there's a lot of resistance to this new edition, but I for one would have liked it for its closer approach to the 1611 translation. Anyway, unlike that edition, the Clarion doesn't include quotation marks for direct speech.

It has taken a fair while to get used to the placement of superscript reference letters/numbers IN FRONT OF the relevant words. Maybe cross-references don't need special indication within the text, anyway, especially when it leads to this more complicated system using both letters and numbers - and in this paragraph style of setting you run the risk of getting verse and note numbering confused (although Cambridge has done well at giving them distinct type). To be really fussy, I do also wish that it could somehow have been contrived to have a blank page facing the last page of Revelation; and it is a pity that so many blank sheets are left at the back - they cry out for more reference material to fill them up!

In the Reader's Companion maybe a few more words could have been given a definition, rather than just references (e.g. DISCREET and DISCREETLY, which is given a concordance entry, but the KJV's use in the sense 'judicious, prudent, showing honest judgement' may now be unusual enough to require a note). And for real completeness maybe it would be good if non-English headwords were given pronunciation marks, and if every Hebrew proper name were translated where possible - something rarely done, admittedly, but nevertheless extremely useful when the Old Testament narratives often play on the meanings (e.g. Jacob, with its associated puns, around which the narrative is in some ways structured).

It is hardly a fault that the Reader's Companion seems to limit text-references to actual occurrences of the head-word, but I do feel that some of the general, thematic entries (ones that discuss how the Bible as a whole presents a particular subject) could benefit from a wider selection. The example that struck me is in the entries for 'beasts' and 'creation'. Excellent and very fair statements in themselves, they would have been strengthened with references to Psalms 96 and 148 (and 147) entire, or to Job 38:41, which are key passages on God's relationship to Creation and on God-consciousness beyond human-kind, and rather more definitive (for general application) than Psalm 147:9 (a verse specifically quoted because the word 'beast' happens to occur in it, while Job 38:41 is referred to under 'raven', despite its clearly wider significance). But I guess this shows just how well the authors have avoided any hint of interpretation.