Single-column Bibles

I have always loved single-column Bibles, and have hardly ever used anything else.  A single-column Bible just looks like it was meant to be read!  However, single-column Bibles have two special requirements beyond the needs of traditional double-column editions: the text needs to be larger and the paper needs to be better.

The New Cambridge Paragraph Bible has about 70 characters per line, which is just about right.  If there are more than this, it’s hard for your eye to find the start of the next line.  So, if a publisher is going to keep each line to about 70 characters, this rule must be followed: the wider the line, the larger the font.

There is a greater need for relatively opaque paper in single-column Bibles than in double-column ones.  This is because they more often have text which is not backed by text on the reverse side of the page (this happens especially in sections that are printed in verse, such as the Psalms).  Your appreciation of all that white space is marred by seeing the words printed on the other side.  One simply notices show-through more when reading a single column Bible!

In an earlier post I complained about the translucency of the paper that is used in the Revised Cambridge edition of the NCPB.  However, their Cameo edition uses even thinner paper (the same stock used in the Clarion Reference Bible) but, because the Cameo is printed in double-columns, the show-through is not as obvious as it is in the Clarion or the NCPB.

A single-column setting makes almost any Bible a pleasure to read - as long as the font is big enough and the paper is thick enough!

KJV Clarion Reference Bible vs. NCPB

In 2011, to coincide with the 400th anniversary of the KJV, Cambridge University Press published two new personal-size, single-column, paragraph-format, black-letter King James Bibles: the Clarion Reference Bible and the Revised edition of the New Cambridge Paragraph Bible.  It might be useful to compare and contrast these two editions.

Biblical text
Clarion: Standard 1769; words that have no equivalent in the original text are printed in italics.
NCPB: 1611, but with modern spelling and punctuation; no words are in italics.

Apocrypha
Clarion: Not included.
NCPB: Available with or without the Apocrypha.

Also on each page
Clarion: Cross references in the outside margin.
NCPB: Marginal notes in the inside margin.

In both editions
Epistle Dedicatory.
The Translators to the Reader.

Also included
Clarion: Reader’s Companion (a combination concordance and dictionary) and 15 maps.
NCPB: Editor’s Introduction.

Font
Clarion: Lexicon No. 1, in 8.75 point.
NCPB: Swift, in 10.9 point.
Despite the different font sizes, the type in these two Bibles appears to be similar in size.

Page size
Clarion: 5 x 7 1/16 inches.
NCPB: 5 3/4 x 8 1/4 inches.

Printed text (not including cross references or marginal notes)
Clarion: 3 1/2 x 6 1/16 inches.
NCPB: 3 3/4 x 7 1/8 inches.

Lines per page
Clarion: 42 (5.946 lines per vertical inch).
NCPB: 48 (5.818 lines per vertical inch).
There is slightly more space between the lines of the NCPB than in the Clarion.

Books begin...
Clarion: where the previous one ended.
NCPB: almost always at the top of a page, and usually on a right-hand page.

Text sample
Clarion
NCPB 

Paper stock
Clarion: Indolux India paper
27 grams per square meter
Thickness 30 (1690 pages per inch)
Opacity 79.5, Whiteness 87

NCPB: 



OP Opaque Bible paper
31 grams per square meter
Thickness 36.5 (1390 pages per inch)
Opacity 81, Whiteness 83

As defined in the Cambridge Glossary, India paper weighs less than 30 grams per square meter and Bible paper weighs at least 30 grams per square meter.

Bindings available 
Clarion: Black or brown leather.
NCPB: Hardback or black leather.