Is the Humble Lamb HIStory Still Worth Having?

The Humble Lamb HIStory Bible (NASB 2020) is exactly what you would expect from them. Innovative. Unique. Beautiful. I can’t say that I’ve ever seen a bible laid out like this. It is designed to be read in stories. The chapter numbers are diminished on the side of the page to take the focus off of reading chapters and verses. Instead, each story is introduced with a beautiful full color drop cap, and violet subheading. I tried to include as many as I could in these photos, but each one has its own custom artwork. Truly incredible.

The fore-edge gilding is a wonder in and of itself. It features art from stories in the Old Testament, with Jesus in the center, and then artwork from the New Testament. Humble Lamb does the best page edge work in the book publishing world, and I’ve seen lots of books. The purple (aka amethyst) Meritian Goatskin cover has more of a shine than previous releases, and it makes that grain POP! Same with the liner, which for this edition looks virtually identical to the lunar yellow (liner is also the Meritian Goatskin with same shine and grain).

As you can see in the pictures, this bible is thick, but compact (7 x 4.75 x 1.75 inches). This makes the fact that they have all 220 of Doré art illustrations and the full set of NASB 2020 references and translator notes (on the outer column) even more impressive. One thing to keep in mind about the references is when there are too many, they are wrapped around the bottom of the story. This is to keep all the references together with the story (as much as possible). It’s hard to believe they are able to do all this AND give us an 8.5 Milo font. The paper is 32gsm Ivory, and the text is line matched.

I’ve seen a few say the Words of Christ are in black instead of blue as advertised. Actually they are more of a violet. The color a little harder to see than the last edition, but not as hard to see as earlier editions. I’m not sure if this was intentional, but since the subheadings to the stories are in violet, it makes sense that the words of Christ would match. Intentional or not, it’s a feature I actually like. Just different enough from the black to see when Jesus is speaking, but plenty dark to avoid making them difficult to read.

While the layout does take some getting used to, it’s really nice that it forces you to slow down and take in the incredible stories of the Bible that all point to Jesus (a theme also very prominent in the custom drop caps). Everything about this bible screams “Jesus is the center” from the arrangement, to the drop caps, to the fore-edge. It’s not just a bible, it’s a total experience designed to immerse you in the story of the salvation of man in the person of Jesus.

One thing that may be important to note is that all of the HIStory editions are edge-lined. There are at this time no paste-off options. However, if you want regular color under gold gilding that’s available as a second option. I also noticed there are no black (or green) editions of HIStory available. Lots to take in with this bible, but it’s a clever design, and an innovative concept.

Check the link below to look at the color options!

https://humblelamb.com/collections/na...