In the grand scheme of things, I have a pretty narrow premium Bible collection. I have a few Crossway ESV Heirloom Legacy Bibles in black, green, and purple goatskin. I have a few Schuyler ESV Quentel Bibles in a few different colours, all in goatskin. And I have a few other Crossway options as well, including the Heirloom Study Bible, Heirloom Alpha, and Omega, again, all in goatskin leather.
Needless to say, I haven’t been particularly adventurous when it comes to leather selection.
Until the new Crossway and EvangelicalBible Heirloom Thinline collaboration from a few short months ago. When I saw these Bibles debut and start hitting the airwaves, I knew I had to have one. These collaborative Bibles combine the best of EVBible’s leathers with the best Crossway Heirloom features to make one of — if not the — best thinline Bibles in the game right now.
This particular Olive Green Calfskin Heirloom Thinline is absolutely exquisite. Currently, it has become my church Bible — the one I bring with me on Sunday mornings. I haven’t quite decided whether smaller personal size Bibles (like the Heirloom Alpha) are preferable for Sunday mornings services, or whether I prefer a thinline option like this. Either way, it’s worked wonderfully these last few months.
The best news about this collaborative Bible from Crossway and EvangelicalBible? It seems Crossway has picked up on a few of its past Heirloom shortcomings, and more than a few Grade B features will be improved to Grade A features in the near future. Ribbons will improve. Leather options will improve. Yapp options will widen. This collaborative Heirloom Thinline Bible is just a sign of things to come.
Let’s take a closer look at the most beautiful new Bible in my collection.
Design and Materials
This is the most unique, most classy looking Bible I’ve ever seen or held. It starts with the one-of-a-kind calfskin leather, but it is largely driven home by the beautiful paper selection.
Calfskin Leather
Pictures only go so far for calfskin leather. You can see the unique character of a calfskin leather from afar. You can envision what it might feel like, or what it may smell like. But you have to see this in person.
First, calfskin leather isn’t as malleable as goatskin leather. There’s a certain bit of stiffness to this leather. Where you can curl a goatskin leather around on itself pretty easily, calfskin leather pushes back at you a bit. It’s not a hard cover by any means. Just a bit stiffer than I was expecting.
It’s also lighter than I was expecting. I experienced the same thing with my wife’s new calfskin Heirloom Study Bible — her Heirloom Study Bible is noticeably lighter than my goatskin Heirloom Study Bible. The same can be said here. The calfskin leather just has a general lightness to it that helps add to its portability.
The olive green colour-way has some really elegant veins running in all directions. The Heirloom Thinline has a particularly grungy look to it right out of the box, and I attribute this to the veininess of the calfskin leather.
Lastly, this is my first full yapp Bible, wherein the leather extends further out beyond the paper block than what you might be used to. The fuller yapp helps protect the paper block (though, as we’ll see, it’s not perfect) and adds a certain floppiness to the front and back covers. Crossway also indented a line about a half inch from the edge of the leather, adding an extra level of elegance to the full yapp covers. Given the choice between a normal half yapp and a full yapp, I’d certainly choose a full yapp at this point. I quite like the old school look a full yapp provides to this Heirloom Thinline.
Overall, calfskin leather is a pure win for me. I truly love the grungy character right out of the box. I like the full yapp extending beyond the paper block. I like the stiffness and the lightness. This is a win for me. Is it better than goatskin? I’d say there might be different places for different leathers, and calfskin feels better for taking here, there, and everywhere.
Spine
One of my minor complaints about Crossway Bibles in the past was their choice of spine design. Past Heirloom Bibles came with five different ribs in the spine and a bunch of marketing. Crossway has since dialed back the spine labelling. This Heirloom Thinline has the ESV emblem, “English Standard Version”, and Crossway’s logo emblazoned on the spine, all below a “Holy Bible” at the top. Anything more and this would be audacious, in my opinion.
The ribs are nicely pronounced, too. They’re not overly pronounced or under-pronounced in any way. This particular Bible in an olive green calfskin isn’t particularly understated, but there’s nothing about it — including the spine — which is in your face.
A small little update after receiving another Bible for review from Crossway — the Heirloom Thinline includes a more minimal “ESV” logo than the latest Crossway Heirloom Veritas and Gloria Dei options, which have the circular emblem around the “ESV” logo. It’s a small thing. The Heirloom Thinline has the more “minimalist” logo, which I prefer.
Size
Crossway’s entire Heirloom line has several sizes, ensuring there is one for everyone. If you want a true portable, take anywhere option, the Heirloom Alpha will be for you. On the other end of the spectrum, you could pick up either of the latest iterations of the Heirloom Legacy or Heirloom Heritage options (known now as the Gloria Dei and Veritas) or the ultra-thick Heirloom Study Bible.
The Heirloom Thinline is a combination of a larger footprint but significantly thinner profile, making it great for portability and for those who want more than a personal size option. Officially, it measures 5.375-inches x 8.375-inches x .906-inches, which is taller and wider than smaller personal sizes, but also much narrower.
Who might be the kind of person who prefers this size over a smaller personal size option like the Heirloom Alpha? Well, me. I’ve had personal size Bibles in the house for quite some time, and I’ve brought them to church many times. I greatly prefer this Heirloom Thinline size for reading on a Sunday morning at church. And I actually have proper reason too:
- The larger footprint fits better on your lap, so if you open and read and then set it down on your lap, you don’t have to worry too much about it slipping between your legs to the floor.
- Other paper sizes are usually larger than the smallest personal size Bibles, which means you can more easily handle an Heirloom Thinline in and among other books and documents. This also goes for iPads — the Heirloom Thinline fits the 11-inch iPad wonderfully, and fits the 12.9-inch not too bad either.
I really, really like this Heirloom Thinline size. It’s light and portable thanks to its narrow profile and light calfskin leather, and it fits nicely on my lap when at church. It’s my go-to Bible for going to church Sunday mornings.
Binding and Hinge
The last time I reviewed a Crossway Heirloom Bible, I expressed some of the biggest disappointment I’ve ever expressed on this blog. The Heirloom Single Column Personal Size I reviewed had one of the worst bindings I’d ever seen in a Bible at this price tag. The glue had given way after a few short years and, in many ways, feels like it might fall apart already.
I can express the opposite with the Heirloom Thinline from Crossway and EvangelicalBible. The Thinline’s binding is superb, both in terms of how durable it appears and how the full yapp protects it. The Heirloom Thinline is bound in the Netherlands at Royal Jongbloed, a world-renowned book-binder that produces the world’s best Bible bindings. In my experience, Jongbloed bindings are at least 100 times better than anything out of China, so this is a huge selling feature for the Heirloom Thinline’s longevity and durability.
I’ve noticed new Crossway Bibles tend to need a bit of coaxing and break-in to properly lay flat as intended. The Veritas I have has quite a deep “gutter” — the valley at the middle of the book block where your eyes have to curve with the text when reading — and it requires a little press down on the hinge to lay flatter for better reading. The Heirloom Thinline, out of the box, laid flatter, but still required some of its own coaxing. No complaints here — you just have to be prepared to, you know, use the Bible before it’s going to truly lay flat for you.
Paper
With no exaggeration, the single biggest improvement I’ve seen in any premium Bible from any maker is the choice in Crossway’s paper in recent Heirloom releases. All we’re given now in any product description is “High-quality European Bible paper”, so it’s hard to exactly say who is making this paper or what makes it so good. Whatever the meta characteristics, Crossway’s “high-quality European Bible paper” is as high quality as it gets.
Thickness and Opacity
The Heirloom Thinline’s paper has this smoothness to it that feels like delicate royalty. And it’s delicate, to be sure — I’ll touch more on the gilding shortly, but the thin 28 GSM Bible paper is certainly thin to the touch. The thinness is required, of course — there’s no way to keep this Bible in the “thinline” category without narrowing down the paper as much as possible.
Thinner, 28 GSM paper is always susceptible to poorer opacity relative to the thicker 36 GSM papers found in the full-size Schuyler Quentel options. This 28 GSM isn’t somehow magical, with perfect opacity and thinness. There’s some show-through, to be sure. This is mostly noticeable in areas where line-matching breaks down (more on this below).
I’d also say, for whatever reason, that this “high-quality European Bible paper” feels less crinkly than some other Bible papers I’ve felt in the past.
Paper Colour
On the other hand, for 28 GSM paper, the Heirloom Thinline’s opacity and show-through is wonderfully controlled. And I think this is largely impacted by the paper colour in the Heirloom Thinline. In past reviews, I’ve noted a significant difference between bright white papers found in the original Heirloom Study Bible or the Heirloom Personal Size Single Column Bibles. The brighter the paper, the more contrasty the black text on the backside of each page. The warmer the paper, the more subdued that text is on the backside of the page, and the better the reading experience overall.
So in short, the Heirloom Thinline’s warmer paper has a material impact on text ghosting.
But I’d argue there’s more to this paper colour. It’s such a romantically warm paper colour. I’m not sure if it comes across warmer because of the art gilded edges or the calfskin green covers. It just seems so creamy and inviting to the eyes. It has a noticeably different tone than the Heirloom Alpha paper colour, which seems more orange and salmon-coloured. The Heirloom Thinline seems to have more of a pink undertone to my eye, which is the most comfortable paper tone I’ve ever seen.
I’ve never looked at a Bible’s paper in this manner before — it’s one of the most readable and delicate papers in any Heirloom Bible I’ve seen to date.
Ribbons
Now, because this is a collaborative effort between Crossway and EvangelicalBible, you get the best of both worlds — you get Crossway’s best fonts and readable text blocks, the best Schuyler calfskin leathers, and the best Schuyler ribbons. If this were a Crossway-only Bible, the ribbons would rank at the bottom of the Heirloom Thinline’s feature list. Instead, because they are Schuyler ribbons, you’re in for a treat.
These are true beresford ribbons. They extend 2–3 inches between the book block, providing ample ribbon to grab and pull to the side to find your marked reading placement. They’re also thick and durable, ensuring you won’t rip or fray either of the ribbons.
Which is the only real downside to the Heirloom Thinline’s ribbons — that “either” part. There are only two beresford-style ribbons here, limiting your ability to mark too many places at once in your Bible. I’m a big fan of having three ribbons — four works in a big book block like the Heirloom Study Bible, but in general, this is too many — and two ribbons is too few. I like to have one in the concordance or table of contents sections, with the other two marking our place at church and my personal reading place.
All in all, these ribbons are a considerable step forward from any prior Crossway ribbon. (And it also looks like these will be the standard ribbons going forward. I can’t wait to show you the new Heirloom Veritas Bible.)
Art Gilding
Perhaps my only true complaint about this calfskin Heirloom Thinline is in the paper’s art gilding. Out of the box, once again, this is the most beautiful Bible I’ve ever seen. The salmon-coloured art gilding pairs wonderfully with the olive green calfskin leather. The Bible looks pristine and perfect, and the art gilding is the cherry on top.
But do not get it wet.
I made the mistake of holding the Heirloom Thinline ever-so-slightly the wrong way while walking through a minor drizzle on the way to church one morning, and I now have permanent art gilding scarring. Just a hint of water and the art gilding smudges. In the end, this Bible is going to get used, so it was never going to stay pristine forever. But it hurt my feelings a bit, seeing a perfect brand new Heirloom Bible so immediately scarred for the rest of its life.
It’s just a tangible item, so I won’t go too far. But don’t get this Bible wet in any way.
Printing
I’ve raved about several facets of this Heirloom Thinline Bible already, but I’m going to rave a bit more. I love the calfskin leather. I love the paper selection. But more than anything, it’s the font and layout that makes this a truly beautiful Bible.
Font, Font Sizes, and Layout
The Heirloom Thinline continues its now traditional font set with an 8-point type in a traditional dual-column layout. This is the same size font as the smallest fonts found in the most portable Heirloom Alpha, and ever so slightly smaller than the 9.25-point font found in the new Heirloom Veritas. The font size does play an optical illusion on you, though — because it’s presented on a larger paper footprint, the font feels smaller than it shows in the more-portable Heirloom Alpha.
However! This smaller font on a bigger footprint provides an elegance I haven’t experienced in a Crossway Bible since the second-generation Heirloom Legacy (my first premium Bible and my favourite Bible of all-time). There’s something so dainty and beautiful about the way this small 8-point font is presented. It feels thinner than the same font in other packages, for whatever reason. I absolutely love it.
The dual-column layout seems to be a thing for each person to decide whether they like. I prefer dual-column layouts to single-column layouts in many circumstances, the most common of which is when I need to skim quickly when sitting in a pew on Sunday mornings. If I am sitting down to read in the evening, a single-column layout is preferable. But for most other instances, I like the ability to reduce the amount my eyes move from left to right across a line.
Like other Crossway Bibles, my understanding is this is an 8-point Lexicon font style, which has been used in the Heirloom Thinline for many years at this point. Though, I can’t be certain — Crossway doesn’t seem to publish the font type, but does publish the font size. If I was guessing, I’d guess this is a Lexicon font face.
Line-Matching
Line-matching is of the utmost importance when working with thinner 28 GSM paper. If done poorly (and if done on the wrong colour paper, but we’ve covered that already), you’re bound to have distractions when reading. It’s even more important when dealing with a dual-column layout, as there’s more blank space on each page, which tends to cause ghosting issues on the backside of each page. Overall, the Heirloom Thinline does a good job of line-matching to keep ghosting and show-through in check.
However, there are some issues. Issues I haven’t seen in other dual-column layouts from Crossway.
For instance, in parts of Isaiah, where the text block moves from paragraph forms to poetry forms more often, line-matching breaks down from time to time. There are instances in, say, Isaiah 28 where line-matching breaks down entirely in the Heirloom Thinline, with text running in-between lines on the backside of the page. I do feel the warmer paper tone does an overall good job of smoothing out distraction or ghosting issues when this line-matching breaks down, but it is almost instantly noticeable in a premium Bible like this.
(If it matters, the same verses and the same locations in the Heirloom Alpha (also a dual-column layout) does not yield the same sort of breakdown in line-matching.)
This is far from being a deal-breaker for such a beautiful Bible, but connoisseurs are sure to notice.
Black-Letter Typesetting
Finally, like every other Crossway Heirloom Bible I have in my collection, the Heirloom Thinline is a black-letter typesetting. Red letter typesettings just are not a thing in the Crossway world, it seems. In fact, I’ve skimmed through this entire Heirloom Thinline and I can’t find a coloured bit of text anywhere. No headings or anything have any colour, anywhere.
For me, this is for the better. First, red letters are so difficult to get right, especially when you consider the varying tones of Bible paper chosen. Second, it implies there are certain words in the Bible that are different — worse, more important — than others. And as my faith grows, the more strongly I feel this is flat-out incorrect. So, in short, I prefer black-letter typesettings, no matter what, at all times.
Study Materials and Extras
Because this is a thinline Bible designed to more portable than other options, it can be expected there are few to no study materials or extras. Crossway has unexpectedly crammed a few extra helpers into the Heirloom Thinline, though.
Footnotes
Footnotes are kept to a minimum, with one or two lines at the bottom of a column for the most critical translation notes. This is a lot like the ESV Omega or new Heirloom Veritas — in fact, most Heirloom Bibles I have these minor footnotes at the bottom of each column.
What the Heirloom Thinline lacks are references, which can only be found in the ESV Omega or the Heirloom Wide Margin. As my Bible collection grows, the happier I am to omit the references in an option like the Heirloom Thinline in favour of an overall smaller and more portable Bible. References, to me, seem best suited for the Heirloom Study Bible. (On another note, the way Schuyler handles its footnotes and references remains superior to all other Bible publishers I have seen. They cram references into all their Schuyler Bibles, and somehow they pull it off with great style and taste.)
Concordance
The most surprising extra added to the Heirloom Thinline is a concordance and a table of weights and measures. The weights and measures table is pretty common across all Crossway Heirloom Bibles (literally every option in my collection has one of these), but a concordance is rarer.
Once again, I feel like how the Heirloom Thinline is intended to be used showcases why the concordance is so helpful in a Bible like this. To me, the Heirloom Thinline is designed to be a church Bible. It’s thin and light and easy to take with you on a Sunday morning, but has a large enough footprint to be able to rest on your lap without falling to the floor. And because it’s so conducive for Sunday mornings, the concordance becomes all that more valuable — how often does the pastor use a term that catches your attention and has you searching for other places in the Bible for that term? This is where a concordance is most valuable in my opinion.
(I actually feel a concordance inside a huge desk Bible, like the Heirloom Study Bible, is less helpful, as it’s most likely you’re close to a computer, where you have the largest concordance of all. Just my opinion — there may be many who like to keep all technology away from their Bible study.)
Maps
Lastly, the Heirloom Thinline presents full colour maps on a more glossy paper in the back of the book block. These maps are coloured and designed much like every other Crossway Heirloom Bible to date, with more pastel-like colours used. I will note that the newest Crossway Bibles, like the Heirloom Veritas, have newly designed coloured maps, which use more muted, earthy colours. I definitely prefer the design of the newest coloured maps.
Price
If you’re reading this review on The Newsprint, it’s likely not your first rodeo — you’ve read past Heirloom Bible reviews on this site and beyond, and you know full well this level of beauty and craftsmanship comes at a cost. There’s even an element of “Collector's Edition” to this Crossway and EVBible Heirloom Thinline, as these printing runs don’t always come back and the colours are not always the same the next time around.
To that end, if you’re viewing the full price of the Heirloom Thinline at $350 USD, your eyes may very well start to water. As I write this, though, most colours of this incredible Bible are still available on the EvangelicalBible site for $205 USD, making it one of the lowest priced Heirloom options I’ve ever reviewed.
At this price, and in the current world, the calfskin leather Heirloom Thinline from Crossway and EvangelicalBible feels like the perfect Christmas gift for someone in your life.
Wrap Up
It’s been a long time since I wrote an entire Bible review. And by that, you may assume that meant it either took me a long while to come to my conclusions on the Heirloom Thinline Bible from Crossway, or that I had become rusty.
Let me be clear: The moment I took this Heirloom Thinline out of the box, I knew it was the new benchmark in my Bible collection. This particular Bible is of the highest quality — the calfskin leather feels textured to the touch and has character for generations, while the paper inside is the most inviting and elegant version I’ve ever seen. Truly, this Bible is an eye-catcher, from the person who sits next to you on Sunday morning to your eye when you sit down in your reading chair to do your daily reading.
Crossway’s Heirloom Thinline is one of my all-time favourite Bibles to this point. At the current discounted price, I think it’s one of the best gifts you could give someone this coming Christmas.
You can find many wonderful colors of the Crossway ESV Heirloom Thinline Bible on EvangelicalBible.com. You can also find the olive green calfskin model right here.