Arion Lyre

60. The Holy Bible.

The Holy Bible, New Revised Standard Version of the Old Testament, Apocrypha, and New Testament, 2000.

In the tradition of grand printed Bibles, the Arion Press Lectern Folio Bible is a monument to the scriptures, to fine typography, and to fine bookmaking. Click here to read what the press is saying, see photos, PBS video, and more.

Folio Bible two volumes

 

Following in the tradition of Gutenberg and other fine printers over more than five centuries, Andrew Hoyem and the artisans at Arion Press have created an oversize, Folio Edition of the Holy Bible using traditional letterpress techniques and the finest materials and craftsmanship. The Arion Press Bible is the first large folio presentation of the contemporary translation and current scholarship of the New Revised Standard Version—and it is probably the last Bible to be printed by letterpress from metal type. This Bible is intended for liturgical use in church services as well as for the collections of individuals and libraries.

     
Type for Arion Bible  

The text is printed by letterpress on English mouldmade paper. Designed for ease of reading from a lectern, the text is set in Romulus, a type of graceful lines and clarity of character recognition.

     
Large red initial letter
Photo by Michael Macor/
San Francisco Chronicle		  

Each book of the Bible begins with a large red initial letter. This alphabet of roman capitals was created for the Arion Press by the noted type designer Sumner Stone, formerly director of digital design for Adobe.

Hand-illuminated abstract patterns, created by calligrapher Thomas Ingmire, embellish the initials of special copies of the Arion Bible, using genuine gold and watercolors.

     
Mac driving the Monotype casting machine  

The Arion Bible has been set in type, printed, illuminated, and bound entirely in-house by a team of traditionally trained craftspersons at the Press's historic facility in San Francisco. In the tradition of grand printed Bibles, it is a monument to the scriptures, to fine typography, and to bookmaking.

EDITION & PRICES

Format 18 by 13 inches, 1,356 pages; composed on a Macintosh computer and cast by Monotype in Romulus type, in 16 point for the main text and 11 point for subsidiary material and explanatory notes, with larger sizes (24, 36, 72 point) for display, handset from foundry type; initial letters designed by Sumner Stone for photopolymer plates; printed by letterpress in two colors of ink, black for text, red for initial letters, on Somerset, a mouldmade paper of 100% cotton fiber; offered in four versions:

  1. Unbound, folded sheets gathered in sections (for those who wish to commission a unique binding), in black linen box.
  2. Handbound in full black linen with handsewn headbands, in black linen box.
  3. Handbound in full leather with handsewn headbands, in black linen box.
  4. Illuminated initial letters added as an optional feature.

Weight, with box, is approximately 50 pounds. The Bible is bound as two volumes for ease of handling and advantages for display.
The Bible is limited to an edition of 400 numbered copies for sale, of which 150 have illuminated initial letters.

Available at the following prices:

  1. Unbound, in cloth-covered box: $7,250
  2. Bound in full cloth, in cloth-covered box: $7,750
  3. Bound in full goatskin (black spine, purple sides, red bead between), in cloth-covered box: $8,500
  4. Illuminated initial letters: add $2,500

Reserve your copy of the Bible now and pay offline:

Reserve your copy

Click here for the full prospectus.


IN THE MEDIA : THE ARION PRESS BIBLE

You'll find more details about the Arion Bible in the following:

Go to title: 59. Cane     61. The Voices of Marrakesh

Edition: Large folio format, 18 by 13 inches, 1,356 pages. The Bible is limited to an edition of 400 copies for sale, offered as follows:

Unbound, in linen box. Price: $7,250.

Handbound in black linen, in linen box. Price: $7,750.

Handbound in full leather, in linen box. Price: $8,500.

Illuminated initial letters optional. Price: add $2,500.

Reserve your copy

In the Media

Video: Arion Folio Bible
“This Bible is unique because this place is unique. It's one of the last shops in the world where all the work on a book is done under one roof.”
– Elizabeth Farnsworth, PBS News Hour
View now: The making of the Folio Bible.

Arion Press Video Tour

The Word 1.0
“In order to make this extraordinary Bible, the craftspeople of Andrew Hoyem's Arion Press in San Francisco merged the bookprinting techniques of the 19th century with the computer technology of the 20th. They started by laying out the text of the New Revised Standard Version on a Macintosh computer. Once complete, they fed that file through a vintage Mac ingeniously programmed to communicate with a Monotype casting machine, a contraption invented in the 19th century that makes individual pieces of type from molten lead. The pieces of movable type were then assembled into trays (called galleys), which were inked and pressed onto sheets of acid-free, cotton folio paper. The resulting pages were illuminated, folded, gathered into signatures, sewn and bound, all by hand. Only 400 copies of this large-format Bible will be made, each one a utilitarian masterpiece likely to last for centuries.”
–Thomas Jackson, Forbes

Folio Bible
“Tim Johnson, curator of special collections and rare books at the University of Minnesota, said Arion Press is considered the nation's leading publisher of fine-press books that span from classics to contemporary literature. ‘How beautiful the typeset is,’ Johnson said of the Arion Press Bible. ‘There's a clarity and crispness there that takes your breath away. The spacing, weight of the paper, it all starts to catch your eyes. It is a breath-taking book to look at.’ ”
– Lucy Her, Minneapolis Star Tribune

“The history of printing begins and continues with the founding text of our civilization, the Bible. With the publication of its magisterial lectern Bible, the Arion Press greets the new millennium with the healing gift of high art... A landmark publication by the nation's distinguished fine printer Andrew Hoyem.” —Dr. Kevin Starr, California State Librarian Emeritus

“The sense we share culturally, whatever our particular beliefs, of the Bible as our great sacred text, dictates a certain reverence in how we make books out of the Bible. I cannot imagine that there is another place on this continent that brings together so many rare resources for artistic bookmaking, from the superbly skilled staff to the typefoundry and letterpress equipment. The Press's master craftsman Andrew Hoyem's scholarship and devoted attention to detail, welcome in any sort of publishing, have an especially powerful appropriateness for the Bible.” —Robert Alter, Biblical author, scholar, and translator, UC Berkeley