As a seminary student. I have spent several hours studying God’s word, surprisingly. I have never used the ESV English Standard Version of the bible. I recently received a copy of the new ESV Illuminated Bible Art Journaling Edition for the purpose of review. My first thought when opeing the bible was that it is simply beautiful. I would have to say that this is the most beautiful bible that I have ever seen. The cover has a light layer of cloth with gold flowers, lettering and trim. The gold is used throughout the bible in the form of lettering and artwork.The ESV Illuminated Bible places the full ESV text alongside over 500 elegantly hand-lettered gold ink illustrations by renowned artist Dana Tanamachi. Printed on thick cream-colored paper, the Bible’s single-column text setting and wide margins provide generous space for additional notes, prayers, and designs—inviting readers to creatively engage with and reflect on the beauty of God’s Word.
What I love most about this bible is the artwork and uniqueness. Upon opening the bible, I can see that there was a lot of research and time put into creating this. Some of the illustrations are from stories in the scriptures based on the historical environment, context, and themes of each book. For example, the visionary Dana Tanamachi incorporated an illustration of a hyssop plant—the very branch on which Jesus was offered a drink while he was nailed to the cross—into the book opener for the Gospel of John.The artwork was inspired by late 19th- and early 20th-century design, typography, and motifs of the Arts and Crafts movement and the art nouveau period, visible in the curved and winding floral elements found throughout the edition. The artist drew further inspiration from Victorian typography, American woodtype posters, and Ukiyo-e woodblock prints.
ESV ILLUMINATED BIBLE:
- 9-point, Lexicon
- Black letter text
- 2-color printing
- 64 full-page, custom book opener illustrations
- 50 full-page verse illustrations
- 250+ hand-lettered margin verses
- 100+ other illustrations throughout
- Illustrated by Dana Tanamachi, whose work has been featured by Google, The Wall Street Journal, Random House, USPS, and Target
- Thick, cream-colored paper
- Wide margins
- Single-column, paragraph format
- Smyth-sewn binding
- Packaging: Permanent Slipcase
- Dana Tanamachi is an American lettering artist, graphic designer, and illustrator whose exquisite typographic murals ignited the worldwide chalk-lettering trend. She has been commissioned by clients such as Instagram, Target, Google, Time Magazine, Nike, and West Elm. Learn more at com.
Although I love the illustrations and craftsmanship of the bible. For me, the lettering is a bit small, however, if it were any larger there would be no room for journaling. Also, in my opinion. This is more of a bible for at home study rather than Sunday morning.
If you are looking for the perfect gift for the the person that is hard to shop for, I would highly recommend the ESV ILLUMINATED BIBLE. Learn more on the website.
