Review of the 'ESV Illuminated Bible' by Crossway

Now this is one spectacular Bible!  Reminiscent of the books of old - I keep thinking like the Book of Kells type thing when I see this.  Illuminated texts date "back to the early fifth century and middle ages when scribes, monks and other artists used richly colored pigments as well as gold and silver leaf to add decoration, initials and illustration to the pages of books and Bibles".

This Bible comes in a hard cover to protect it.  When you slide it out, (this beauty weighs quite a bit) the first thing I noticed is the same intricate gold ink design as on the box.  The pages are all edged in gold, so the view from the side is gorgeous too!  It opens up to dark gold endpapers, then a couple of blank white pages leading to the Presentation Page.  The Presentation page is beautifully designed in black, gold and some green, white and dark red in there too - all in theme font wise.   Following that page is another beautifully illustrated in black and gold Title Page. Then another title page and then the contents, about ESV, Intro followed by The Old Testament Cover Page (just white).

Each book of the Bible has it's own illustrated page in gold. There is an index of all these pages in the back. It does have an attached ribbon bookmark.  In the style of other 'journaling' style Bibles the margins are very wide, so there is room for journalling or notes next to the scriptures.  Personally this Bible is so beautiful, I wouldn't want to write in it.  It would feel like I'm writing on art work! The pages have ample white space and a good size font to make it easy to read.  The font of the actual Biblical text is standard type readable font - it's just the illustrative pages and side bar illustrative writing that have more script-like lettering.

The artist is Dana Tanamachi, an American lettering artist, graphic designer and illustrator.  You can see more of her work at tanamachistudio.com.

This format just adds to the preciousness of the Bible - while I would love to see some of the old illuminated texts of the Bible, this is one way we can have our own copy of something similar in style.  The ESV Illuminated Bible would make an amazing gift! It is something that could potentially be an heirloom to pass down the generations.  I can't speak highly enough of it! It is just so beautiful in real life!

You can buy this Bible here

Please note that I was sent a copy of this Bible for purposes of review, however all opinions expressed are entirely my own.

           GIVEAWAY  (Now Closed)

I have one copy of this stunning Bible to giveaway to one of my readers here!  Just comment below to be in the draw!  A winner will be randomly selected on SATURDAY 4 NOVEMBER.  Please note that the Bible will be sent to the winner directly from the Publisher and can take a minimum of 8 weeks to get to you.

“Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255:  “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”):  Many thanks to Propeller Consulting, LLC for providing this prize for the giveaway.  Choice of winners and opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation.  I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post. Only one entrant per mailing address, per giveaway.  If you have won a prize from our sponsor Propeller /FlyBy Promotions in the last 30 days on the same blog, you are not eligible to win.  Or if you have won the same prize on another blog, you are not eligible to win it again.  Winner is subject to eligibility verification.