ESV Preaching Bible (Goatskin, Black): English Standard Version, Black, Goatskin, Preaching Bible Leather Bound – 28 Feb. 2019

TL;DR: Highly recommend this bible for people looking for a comfortable reader, that also has space for making notes in the margin, and still has useful cross-references.I've just received my ESV Preaching Bible via DHL (I'm in South Africa and got it delivered from the UK).The quality of the bible is top class. The goatskin cover has a wonderfully tactile feel to it (sorry goats). It smells like real leather. The quality of the paper is as advertised.I wasn't certain I would like the size of the bible but it's great for a long term reader which is what I intend for it to be, as opposed to preaching. I wanted a bible that didn't feel cluttered by double column, or the 'noise' that I sometimes feel the study bibles have with copious commentary everywhere. I wanted a bible I can pick up and read comfortably like a book. This preaching bible delivers all of that. Well done to Crossway!One thing I tried to find was a bible with Jesus' words in red text. I couldn't find that in single column format anywhere. However after reading up as to why that is, I'm pursuaded by the argument that it creates a 'canon within a canon' and that the decision to make words red or not is largely editorial and not a historic fact as such. So I was fine with giving up that requirement. Just mentioning that in case there are others who feel similarly.I note some of the complaints in the reviews of pages stuck together as such. I've flipped through the entire bible slowly and there are no such pages. This one I received appears to be pristine. A few pages had the corners still stuck together but I expect that's just an artifact of cutting the rounded corners and they are easily separated. No harm no foul.

Well it's a great Bible. The cover is goatskin, if a little thin eg compared to the Cambridge concord in goatskin. It feels lovely in the hand: a delight to sit with and pour over. Lot of pages stuck together lightly at edges: easy enough to sort but annoying. The paper is thicker I'm told than the ESV heirloom single colomn which is very like this: hence I went for this one. Lots of space for note taking: at least as good as a Cambridge wide margin for that. The paper is not silky smooth like deluxe Cambridge concord goatskin: but nice and thick for note taking. Also the gilt finish is not as impressive as the heirloom editions or the Cambridge goatskin versions- although its growing on me to love it. My one major annoyance (why not 5 stars) is that is made in China and not in the Netherlands. I want my bible made in a centre of fair trade not for maximum profit even if to have to save another month to buy better. A Bible like this is for life. I wouldn't have bought it if I'd known Crossways had sold out to produce it in China. It's a sad economic policy that Bible producers should abstain from,: unless it's bringing the Gospel to that land. Which I doubt that is the motive. I want quality and morality in a Bible of this speck, not cheap and mass produced in...who knows what conditions? I don't want to contribute further to the collapse of the west by being my once in a lifetime investment premium Bible like this. I note that the lovely omega 80th anniversary thinline Bible is still made in the Netherlands. I therefore decided to buy it as well. The goatskin leather on this preacher's Bible is so lovely...nicer to the touch than any other Bible I have. A joy of a Bible in short...nice yap to protect the text block.