A travelling Bible salesman stopped by the other day (how often does that happen?) and I bought some stuff from him. One of the things I bought was a copy of WTL Publication’s The Bible which is distributed by the International Bible Society and Tyndale Publishing. I REALLY like this Bible. WTL and editor Kieth White have put a load of thought into its development. The translation used is New International (Reader’s) Version which flows very nicely. They put a lot of thought into the layout and illustrations as well. The narrative sections are laid out as you would find any modern novel – single column format. When you encounter non-narrative sections such as poetry, history, etc. the layout moves to a two-column format. This means that, should you want, you can read through the entire narrative portion of the Bible alone which is a great idea because it is always good to have a new and creative way to approach it.

 

I said I liked the illustrations – this is an understatement. I think the illustrations in this publication are really fantastic. They are simple but not simplistic. They leave room for imagination and interpretation. The best part is the publishers did not skimp on production and have reproduced the images in full colour. The artist who created the illustrations is a fellow by the name of Andy Bisgrove of Essex, England. The only other comprehensive set of Biblical illustrations I have appreciated as much are from the Good News Bible done primarily by Annie Vallotton and the much older 19th century Biblical illustrations/engravings done by Gustav Dore. This edition of The Bible would be significantly diminished without Bisgrove’s work.

 

Other features of note that make this an excellent edition to own include its nioce weight. It feels substantial but not too heavy. It’s printed on what appears to be a somewhat thicker onion skin type paper and has a nice binding that is between hard cover and soft cover…think of it as a flexible hard cover. The spine and three-quarters inch of the front and back cover are a deep sky blue separated from the tan of the rest of the cover by a thin brown line. The cover has an understated grey reproduction of one of Bisgrove’s works while the spine has the same work, smaller and in colour.

 

For me another important factor is price. I paid $13 for my copy but you can get it from IBS for $7 which includes taxes, shipping & handling. I highly recommend it. You can get more information about this edition and view examples of Bisgrove’s illustrations by visiting the WTL website at: http://www.wtlbiblepublications.com/the_illustrations.php