The Barry Moser Bible
A Most Delightful Bible Reading Experience
I kick off each year of this reading project reading straight through a different version of the Bible. This year, I selected the King James Version designed and illustrated by Barry Moser.
It is large. It weighs close to a metric ton (actually 5.9lbs). The dimensions are 8.76 x 2.13 x 12.18 inches. I know as I’ve been carrying it around this January & February.
I’ve really enjoyed this Bible. It is a stunning work of art with deliberate thought and attention given to the minutest of details. I wanted to highlight some of the delightful aspects in this article:
The Illustrations
I’ve had an awakening of sorts to the power of book illustrations over the past few years. I confess I usually blew right past them as I considered the words the important material. The Barry Moser Bible contains 232 illustrations in total and I’ve found that they have played an important role in how I interact with the text.
The main benefit is that I better remember the people illustrated. Take Sanballat above. I would normally blow right past that name, but here, I took pause. Moser is able to guide the mind to better remember specific situations, people, or places.
The Design
This Bible is broken up into 5 main sections:
The Five Books of Moses
The Books of History
The Books of Poetry
The Books of Prophecy
The New Testament
Each of these main sections ends with the text on the bottom right corner of the page. This means that Barry Moser considered the end as much as the beginning. It means he arranged all of the text and illustrations to conclude elegantly. Most Bibles leave a ton of white space after the end of a section, chapter, or book. I absolutely love the foresight this required.
Each testament of the Bible begins with a name in huge red letters with some uppercase text that spans the page that then breaks into two columns.
Chapters are mentioned but verses are not. The font includes a delightful connection when the letters c & t are next to each other (see the image above and the word “victory).’ This is called a ligature. It helps certain words to pop in the text and is another one of those delightful design choices.
The King James Version
This is my first time reading the King James Version of the Bible. I love it. I’ve recognized references to parts of the Bible I never noticed before (for example, the words to the hymn Great is Thy Faithfulness). There is also a certain gravitas to the language and a power in knowing that this English version has been read for 400+ years. I also like Bibles in modern English but I am seriously considering adopting the KJV as my main Bible going forward.
Video
If you’d like to learn more about the Barry Moser Bible, there is a great documentary called “A Thief Among the Angels: Barry Moser and The Making of the Pennyroyal Caxton Bible.” Here is a trailer for it. I highly recommend watching this movie (available for rent on Amazon for just $1.99).
Where to Purchase
If you’d like to purchase the Barry Moser Bible, we carry it at Landmark Booksellers for $95 + shipping & handling.
More Illustrations
I have been digging around a bit more into Barry Moser’s work and found this amazing interview: https://conversatio.org/in-the-face-of-presumptions-an-interview-with-barry-moser/
If you haven't already read it, it’s so good!
I appreciate that different ways of engaging with story seem to involve different parts of the brain, creating, in my view, a more robust whole understanding. Audio books, traditional print, and these kinds of wonderful illustrated works have had different and important impacts on my assimilation of what I’ve read, so I appreciated your comments on the way this version affected your reading of the Bible. Also, I grew up with an emphasis on recitation and it’s hard to beat the oratory quality of the KJV translation!