King James Version

King James Version, Giant Print, End of Verse Reference, Special Helps. 1976. Nelson 882BR. 1962 pages. [Source: Bought]

First sentence: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

I absolutely loved, loved, loved this one. It was love at first sight. Yes, I love the King James Version. But there was something special about this one that made me love it even more than you might expect.

This one has a padded cover. It is surprisingly light weight despite being giant print. Now "light weight" might be a relative term, obviously. But I have read and carried other "Super Giant" or "Giant Print" bibles that were bulky and just HEAVY. I don't know how this one is so "giant" and yet not bulky. But it was. It is.

Is there ghosting? Yes. Some. Some pages are more obvious than others. But for the most part it was never a distraction. Perhaps because the font color was so dark. The black is genuinely BLACK. The red [Words of Christ] are a very DARK red. Very easy on the eyes all things considered. The text colors were not faded or faint.

This one is two columns. Words of Christ in red--as I mentioned before. It is verse by verse.

This one has some bells and whistles. More than you might expect for being "text only." This one features end of verse references. Not a TON of references. There are plenty of verses without any references at all. But when references do appear they are at the end of the verse--a handful. This one also defines some archaic words. Again not a great amount. Perhaps not as many as one would want if one was struggling with readability. Sometimes the words they choose to define are easy to understand without any helps. While other words that are more difficult they chose not to define.

This one features a substantial family section--pages to fill out with personal information.

The back matter is surprisingly MORE than what I was expecting.
What is the Bible? (one page article)
Prophecies of the Messiah Fulfilled in Jesus Christ (nine page table/chart)
Bible in a year reading plan (four pages)
Summary of the books of the Bible (eight pages)
How to Study the Bible (thirteen page article)
first mentioned things in the Bible (two page index)
concordance (eighty-six pages)
eight color maps
As for the translation, it is the King James Version (which I personally adore).… (meer)

First sentence: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

This is not my first time to read the King James Version. It is one of my absolute favorite translations of the Bible. It is my first time to read the King James Bible in Nelson's new Sovereign collection. I could not find my Bible on GoodReads (not surprising). I found the 'fake leather' in PURPLE at HalfPrice books.

I started the project on September 8, 2023. I finished on October 25, 2023. I had not originally planned to reread the King James Version again this year--since I'd just finished reading through it in the summer. Finding this Bible, it persuaded me to read it NOW, NOW, NOW.

The layout of the Sovereign is excellent. I do think my copy at least had some problems with the red accent color. There were pages where the drop caps and verse numbers were very faint/faded. Plenty of chapters were strong, dark, easy to read. So it didn't end up being a deal breaker for me to see these discolorations. I do wonder if these variations might have been why HalfPrice was able to buy so many new to have on their shelves. (Perhaps this was a known issue with the lot?)

About this edition:

Line-matched classic 2-column format [the Psalms are in single column format just so you know]
Extensive end-of-page cross references
Translation notes [not sure if this goes under translation notes, but this edition features WORDS DEFINED. So the more 'archaic' words were defined for readers in the notes]
Presentation page
Bible book introductions
Words of Christ in red
Concordance
Full-color maps
Two satin ribbon markers
Gilded page edges
Durable and flexible Smyth-sewn binding
Clear and readable KJV Comfort Print [I adore the KJV Comfort Print. I believe this is my only KJV Bible so far to be in Comfort Print.]
9.5-point print size

The font size AND weight were a good balance. It was easy to hold. GREAT to hold. It was natural and effortless as opposed to bulky and awkward. The font size was good overall. Some days my vision is weaker than others, but most of the time it worked well.

I am not a believer in "the one." That is the concept or idea of a person using ONE and only ONE Bible to read forever and ever. I'm not even sure I believe in ONE translation to read forever and ever. But if I did, this one would probably be mine. I WOULD LOVE IT EVEN MORE IN BLACK LETTER, obviously. But this one comes so close to being perfectly perfect in terms of layout and weight.… (meer)