Oh well, getting back on track, I have expanded my Bible collection with several interesting new Bibles (well, new to me, at least). Here are a few things that I've acquired recently, and some of my initial thoughts.
The Apostolic Bible Polyglot
I've had PDF copies of the ABP for several years now. This interlinear Greek Bible is the work of Charles Vanderpool, who has been working on the project for years: it's an interlinear of the Septuagint and a Greek New Testament that is reportedly based partially on the Complutensian Polyglot. Vanderpool's primary contribution to the world of interlinears is that he has coded both the Old and New Testaments to an adapted version of Strong's famous numbering system, and provided his own concordance, to facilitate word study that connects to both the Septuagint and the Greek New Testament. Meanwhile, it's also one of the most beautiful Bibles, aesthetically speaking, in my whole collection. Here is one of the pictures of the edition I purchased from the ABP official website:
Bible Across America NIV
I think I remember reading about this project back when it happened, but I had forgotten all about it. To celebrate the NIV's 30th anniversary in 2008, Zondervan went across America, and had over thirty thousand different people write out verses of the NIV by hand. Then they put everything together to make a large handwritten copy of the NIV. Now, when it first came out, the volume retailed at $99.99, and I'm afraid there is no way I would have paid that kind of money for it! But a couple weeks ago, I saw someone on Facebook post that Christian Book Distributors were selling it for $19.99. I was curious, so I went to the CBD site to take a look, where I saw that the price had dropped to $9.99! Well, for that price, I thought it was definitely worth buying, so I ordered one. And it really is pretty nice. It's a huge volume, in a slipcase, and the handwritten text is fascinating to look at. The idea reminds me of a time when these writings were being copied by hand, by believers from all over. Not worth $100 to me, but certainly worth ten...
Hendrickson Publishers are well known for publishing all kinds of Christian classics that are out of print. This facsimile of the famous Geneva Bible is a nice addition to my Bible collection. Even though the 16th century Roman type is quite small in this facsimile edition, it's fascinating to look at this Bible that was very nearly as important in the history of the English Bible as the King James Version. Also, for a long time I've had the modern spelling edition of the 1599 Geneva Bible, published by Tolle Lege Press. And even though it's a lovely edition, it doesn't have the Apocrypha, which was a part of the Geneva Bible historically, and there's something fascinating about seeing all of the original printing and spelling of the earlier version.
When we took a little family trip to Chattanooga, TN, recently, we visited McKay Used Books while we were there, and I stumbled upon a Majority Text NT that I'd wanted to get for a long time. The only problem had been, every time I searched for it on Amazon, the price was somewhere above one hundred dollars (I think the current Amazon listing is $120.83). So imagine my excitement when I saw a copy at McKay for only eight dollars! The dust jacket was a little torn, but otherwise the copy was in great shape. A very welcome addition to my library of Greek New Testaments!