Heritage Edition Bible and Prayer Book Black Calf Split CPKJ424 Paperback – February 1, 2013

I wish I had bought this on amazon. On this sight its about $20 cheaper. Any way I see a lot of negative reviews on the web for this edition. I think its right nearly perfect.First off the paper is 45gsm which means its thicker and whiter than paper back in the 60s. Because of the line matching and new paragraph form with new typesetting; it makes the KJV a whole lot more readable than most 11pt font kjv. There are none of those pesky self quotes and no red letter. The only drawback in my opinion is that the bible is in the back, like it was an afterthought. They should have shown more reverence to the word of God than sticking His book in the back of a man made prayer book.The prayer book itself has super huge fonts compared to the Pitt minion KJV. That's is a little tacky too. I would have done the opposite to this edition. I would have put the bible in front with large font and put the prayer book in the back in tiny font. The book would still be about the same thickness.The size of the book is hand sized and 1 7/8 inches thick, looks like an 18th century children's bible. The leather is calf split, for those not in the know. Calf split is the opposite of calfskin. Split is very hard and extremely pebbly. Skin is soft supple and so smooth it shines. I was disappointed at first by the calf dplit , but after I used it a little it loosened up enough that I can tell that its real leather and not bonded. It feels like super thick bonded leather but its not, the stamped this leather with pebble grain hense why it looks fake. But you get what you pay for. If you want better leather then get the hardcover and get it rebound you will be looking at around $280 bucks going that road. Quality leather costs.Overall I am very pleased and would recommend to anyone wanting a Pitt minion. If goatskin or calfskin don't matter to you then go with this edition because you get the 2 most influential English books ever published.Oh yeah there is no Apocrypha, technically this should get four stars but since I really like Cambridge I'm keeping it 5.The purple edition is actually a very dark deep purple kinda like what navy is to blue. I wish I had gotten the purple instead but the black just looks right; you know? The fit and finish is very nice when you open it up the cover pushes out against your hand almost like its caressing the text the way a mother holds her baby. That is how covets are supposed to work. So kudos to the Italian binders. I absolutely love the size it is as thick as a study bible but as small as a hand size, it is like they built it to fit my style of hands. This bible is very very sturdy and was built to be used, and use it I will. THIS IS A PRAYER BOOK / BIBLE. Just wanted there to be no confusion to anyone else out there. The prayer book is more like a devotional. Some of the doctrine I strongly disagree with, such as saying that God tempts us and the reason why your sick is because your evil and have sin and God will cure you when you repent. I'm sorry but that is very very wrong and goes to show you that people back in the 1600s were as ignorant as we are today. Other than that most of the prayer book was a valiant love letter to Gods word. Thank you for taking time to read my review and considering this edition. (Seriously though, its well worth the money).

So here is the good and the bad. First off, I love this prayerbook overall. While I obviously have a '79 BCP I find the humanist bent of that book a little much for me at times. I also have truly grown to appreciate the beauty in the language of the 1662. The real bonus of this book is the Bible being connected to the BCP. I do not use the supplied lectionary but I have made my own that takes me through the whole Bible and carrying both a prayerbook and a Bible around separately was a real pain. I find this combination convenient and while I prefer the ESV I don't mind the KJV (its certainly better than the NRSV) as the rest of the prayers are in old English. I was debating as to whether I should get the leather or hardback but I am glad that I sprung for the leather.Now for the not so great. While I believe the '79 to be a bit humanist I would say that the 1662 is a little over the top penitential at times. For instance, the prayers for the sick basically says that God made the person sick because of their sin and to teach that wicked sinner a lesson. I like the daily office (including the Psalms), the rite for Eucharist, the Articles and Catechism, and perhaps the marriage order but the rest of the prayerbook is a little much for me. Also, to address the found size. There is no getting around it the Bible found is small. I would have personally opted for a larger book (both hieght/ width as well as thickness) before allowing the font size to drop below 8. However, with that said, it is not unreadable and I usually just use a little pocket sized magnifier that works great as a bookmark as well (since it is sadly lacking in ribbons). I can read the Bible w/o the magnifier but why strain the eyes? Lastly, while I am glad that I got the leather bound edition the leather is not as nice as the Moroccan Leather offered with the 1662 w//o the Bible.All in all it was a great purchase and I don't feel sorry for having it at all. I use the daily office everyday and read the Bible regularly without a problem. If you love your Anglican heritage or just are in the market for a solid orthodox prayerbook that isn't smeared with Romish prayers and doctrine, this is the book for you!

Great Bible that was an awesome price. The book of prayer is also really good for the soul.

Bible et livre de prière superbe, de qualité et très pratique. J'appréhendais la taille 6 de la police de caractère pour la bible, mais il n'en n'est rien tout est parfaitement lisible.Excellents détails et utilisation du livre de prières en police 8 très lisible. Le livre des psaumes y est également repris en totalité ce qui évite de chercher le chapitre correspondant dans la bible.Il manque juste une table des poids et mesures.Achat à recommander.

This combination BCP-KJV publication is a welcome addition to my library. I have two copies of the old Polyglot editions which are well over a hundred years old, with paper quality to match, and languish on my shelf owing to their likely disintegration were they to be used at all regularly. There are no such worries with this book, as binding, paper and so on are all very good indeed.As has been noted by other reviewers, the print size for the two halves of the book is disproportionately different. There are not enough ribbon markers either – in a book costing north of £50, should one really have to glue in extra markers to make it usable in a service? The lack of an Apocrypha is an interesting point – my two Polyglots consist of one with and one without the Apocrypha. While not a make or break factor, it would have been nice to have it, especially since the KJV was originally published with it included (see the Quatercentenary Edition by OUP!)Something that hasn't been mentioned is the cross-referencing. This has been very well thought through for layout. Only too often one spends time puzzling over the centre column trying to find a reference; here the left column of text has the references left-hung starting at the top, and the right column right-hung at the bottom. The only gripe is the print size – even smaller than the Bible text!Nevertheless, this is a volume that will get plenty of use, not least because it is so nice to hold and behold.

I've really appreciated this edition and have enjoyed using it. However, I've noticed that even with the 'light use' that it has seen the calf-split binding is beginning to separate from the front cover (see attached pictures).I've had a number of Cambridge Bibles in the past and have always appreciated the quality and durability of them and I was surprised to see this happen to this Bible, particularly given the fact that it's only seen light, occasional use.Value wise it’s great: you are essentially getting Cambridge’s Prayer Book and a Cambridge Pitt Minion Reference Bible together for the price of one.

Churches that still use the BCP 1662 and AV in liturgical use are few and far between in this day and age. But I use this for my personal devotions (the daily office and daily Bible reading) and it is a real joy to have both the BCP and AV in a single volume. Another reviewer made the point that this version doesn't contain the Apocrypha. That is true but as a Reformed churchman doesn't bother me in the slightest. (The lectionary would be better off it just stuck to the canonical books, leaving the reading of non-canonical books up to the discretion of individual Christians; this position is more consonant with Art VI's view of the Apocrypha than including readings from it in the lectionary). I do find it rather odd that this reviewer would think that "those who don't like the apocryphal books aren't likely to buy an edition of the Bible with the Book of Common Prayer bound in anyway." Why ever not? Has he never met a Reformed churchman?One thing I like about this version is the fact that the text of the Bible has been put into paragraphs and that poetry has been indented. In modern Bible versions that is not at all unusual, but it is still not that common in editions of the Authorized Version. One thing I find a little odd, however, is the significant difference in the size of the typeface between the Prayer Book and the Bible. The Prayer Book is set in 11.6 pt Lexicon No. 1A while the Bible is set in the same typeface but 6.75/7 pt. The prayer book typeface comes across almost as "large print" while the Bible typeface is smaller than normal sized print. To give you an indication of the difference in typeface size the Prayer Book (including the Psalter, 39 Articles and the Ordinal) takes up 630 pages while the whole Bible (Old and New Testaments) takes up just 969 pages (only around 1½ times the thickness of the Prayer Book). Why such a significant difference in typeface size? The typeface in the prayer book could have been made a bit smaller and the Bible a fraction bigger. Another way the overall experience could be improved is by including a few maps with the Bible for the benefit of the reader and also by increasing the number of ribbon markers. This edition comes with two ribbon markers. That would be fine for a Bible on its own (eg one ribbon to mark one's place in the Old Testament and another to mark one's place in the New Testament) but in a combined Prayer Book and Bible a few extra ribbon markers would not go astray since one is regularly turning up places in the Prayer Book as well as in the Bible. Obviously, there's a limit to how many ribbon markers that can be affixed to a book of this size. However, in my view four ribbon markers would be a good number (although if there was space for more I wouldn't object to an additional one or two): one to mark one's spot in the Old Testament, one to mark one's spot in the New Testament, one to mark one's spot in the Prayer Book Psalter and one to mark one's spot in the collects as one works through the church year.The Bible text is black letter throughout (i.e. the words of Christ are not printed separately in red ink as occurs in some Bible versions). Some people will see this as a negative; I see it as a positive. Also this Bible also contains no section headings (something which has become a commonplace in modern Bible translations but still not too common in modern editions of the Authorized Version). Again, some people will see this as a negative; I see it as a positive.In conclusion, for anyone wanting to use the BCP 1662 and the AV together this edition comes recommended.