1 Year Review: Crossway Heirloom Legacy Exclusive ESV Navy Blue Goatskin
A couple of months ago, a regular viewer asked which Bible I use day to day, and I never got around to answering. My apologies if that was you! I already reviewed this Bible, but I've now used it every single day for over a year, so this is a one-year crash review of the ESV Heirloom Legacy Edition in navy blue goatskin.
How I've cared for it
I use the box any time I travel with the Bible. I'm horrified that the pages will get destroyed. I like my books as pristine as possible, and the same is true, if not more so, for my Bibles, so I've done my absolute best to maintain it. There are definitely some signs of wear.
Why I love it
It's goatskin with a calfskin liner and a reinforced binding with a thick blue cardstock endpage. It's single column, and I don't think I'll ever read from anything that isn't single column again. It's also a wide margin, with room to write in the outer margin, and I've adapted Matthew Everhard's symbol system in the inner margin.
The wear
The one negative, which I mentioned a year ago, is the thin paper. I often read my Bible out loud, and even the smallest droplet of water marks the page. Last year at school I also accidentally sat on it and bent maybe a hundred or two hundred pages. I tried to flatten them, but you can still see where that happened. There are scuffs and marks where I've bumped and scratched it, spots where water got onto the art gilding, and places where my thumb has turned the blue page edges gray. I'm okay with that; it shows that I read it and spend time in it.
The ribbons have held up really well. I'd planned to burn the ends with a match, since they're just straight cut, but there's no sign of splitting or fraying. And the leather is extremely supple. I tend to play with it in class, and I've trained the edges to roll.
Next time: a full yapp
The only other negative isn't really about this Bible; it's a preference I've discovered. This was the first real premium Bible I purchased, and it isn't a full yapp. I don't think I'll ever buy a Bible without a full yapp again: it protects the paper, it's more durable, it lasts longer, and I think it looks nicer. I'm looking into a very similar wide-margin text block from Schuyler, the Treveris, I believe, and trying that out for a while, if not forever.
All things considered, this is a fantastic Bible. It's what I've used at church, in class and in daily devotions for over a year, and it has been a dear friend. I highly recommend it.
Soli Deo Gloria!
