The Cambridge Cameo with Apocrypha, CD257A

A review of the Cambridge Cameo Standard Reference Bible with Apocrypha, CD257A. ISBN: 0521509467, 9780521509466. This older Cameo has a sewn binding; opaque paper; the words of Christ in black; a Bible dictionary; and gilt (but not art-gilt) page edges. It is printed in a small (8 pt) font in a double-column, verse-by-verse format, with page-ordered references in a center column. The cover is a stiff, black calfskin leather, much less flexible than the calfskin cover on the more recent red letter Cameo with Apocrypha (the KJ455:XRA). It came in an attractive slipcase. In this video, I compare the font in this older Cambridge Cameo with that in the newer Cameo, the Oxford Brevier Clarendon (Allan 6C), and the Oxford Brevier Black-face.

My review of the more recent edition of this Bible can be viewed here:    • The Cambridge Cameo with Apocrypha in...  

Detailed contents

00:00 Details: dimensions, margins, layout, font, paper … two charts
00:13 The King James Version on the Translation Continuum
01:49 Dimensions
02:02 Size compared to the newer Cambridge Cameo (KJ455:XRA)
03:14 Size compared to the Allan 6C (Oxford Brevier Clarendon)
03:53 Size compared to the Oxford Brevier Black-face
04:42 Page layout
05:06 Page dimensions
05:45 The font in the text
06:58 Center column references are in page order / center column reference font size
07:50 Paper qualities (color, paper weight, reflectivity, thickness)
08:27 Print non-uniformity
09:39 Page-top headings
10:04 Books sometimes begin in the middle of a page
10:30 The words of Christ are in black ink!
11:00 The concordance
11:44 The Bible dictionary (which is not in the newer Cambridge Cameo (KJ455:XRA))
12:16 The map index and maps
13:22 The overcast stitching in the back of the Bible
13:44 The gilt page edges, black ribbon markers, red and yellow head and tail bands
14:28 The stiff calfskin cover & paste-down construction
14:56 The Bible does not lie flat
15:25 The overcast stitching in the front of the Bible
15:40 The presentation page
15:50 The copyright page, including the Royal Seal of the United Kingdom
16:34 The Epistle Dedicatory (the Translators to the Readers is absent)
17:01 A close-up look at the font, and the font compared to that in the newer Cameo
18:37 The Cameo font compared to that in the Allan 6C/Oxford Brevier Clarendon
19:34 The Cameo font compared to that in the Oxford Brevier Black-face
20:39 A spot in the Cameo where words run together
21:05 The leather cover – a look at the grain and minor imperfections
22:00 The KJV Apocrypha contrasted with the Roman Catholic canon
22:58 Flipping through the Bible – counting pages
23:39 A few comments about show-through (ghosting)
24:18 Conclusion: advantages, and disadvantages