Schuyler Treveris Tuscany Calfskin FY Review
I don't usually review Bibles here, but I have a few times, and a couple of weeks ago someone asked me to review the Schuyler that was sitting on my table. This is the KJV Treveris in Tuscany calfskin with the full yapp. I got it about a year and a half ago for my birthday, and it's been a great friend. (This review is exactly why, outside of perhaps crash-test reviews, I'll just let Tim Wildsmith do Bible reviews in the future.)
Why I chose it
My first Bible was an ESV calfskin Crossway. It was an Heirloom, a beautiful Bible, and I use it every day still. But I wanted something different:
- The KJV, to challenge me with the language. The ESV was becoming too familiar, and I was sort of dozing through my reading.
- A full yapp, because without one my ESV had worn and taken a beating from daily use.
- Something a little out of the ordinary that would stand out without being obnoxious, which led me to the Tuscany.
- Single column again, as I had in my Heirloom, which made it the Treveris.
It was exactly the Bible I was looking for. It comes with a Schuyler card, just like the Crossway ones, and my parents got me the matching notebook.
The cover
Coming from goatskin, the calfskin was an adjustment. Goatskin is supple and has a much richer grain; this calfskin is extremely thick and very smooth. It's a completely different kind of leather, so just be aware of that.
There are six raised hubs, and they're beautiful. The lettering isn't stamped in gold; it's pressed in with no dye at all, which looks very rustic and amazing. It's sewn around the edge, so you won't have the binding peeling back as I've had in some other Bibles, and it has a tooled edge.
The only odd thing is that the Jerusalem cross isn't really centered. It's centered with the yapp standing up, but as the leather is trained to fold down, the cross will seem further and further off. A little annoying, but it's okay.
Inside
The calfskin inner lining is edge-lined, which is much better than a paste-down liner, and the darker brown inside complements the light orangey brown outside. There are beautiful presentation pages for marriages, births and deaths.
This Bible has the most beautiful paper of any Bible I've held. It's extremely soft and a creamy color, which I much prefer to bleached white. I've read most of the Bible from it over the last year and a half.
The art gilding goes from gold into red. It isn't quite as deep as I'd like, more of a salmon pink than a rich garnet red, but it's still beautiful. There are three thick, wide premium ribbons, and beautiful old-style decorative letters at the start of every chapter. Christ's words are in red in the New Testament; I'm not sure how I feel about that, but it's there if you like it.
I know I sound kind of negative, but this has been a fantastic Bible and I've enjoyed every second with it. The only thing I haven't liked is the fear of messing it up. Something with a price tag like this comes with some stress, so I've mostly kept it on my desk and haven't treated it like my Crossway.
The matching notebook
The notebook is the same leather, with the same sewing around the edge, a smaller Jerusalem cross, and a smaller, less high-quality ribbon. It has a paste-down liner, which is all a notebook needs. The paper is marbled with a little pink, and both the Bible and the notebook were printed by Royal Jongbloed in the Netherlands, some of the most premium paper in the world. It even has a contents section and numbered pages, which I usually have to add myself, and 233 pages of notebook paper, art-gilded on the edges.
I didn't dive too much into specifics; these are just the things I've enjoyed and not enjoyed. I'm very grateful to have these on my desk.
Soli Deo Gloria!
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