A Visit to Cambridge Bibles
I got to spend my birthday with the team at Cambridge Bibles, and it was so much fun.
My wife and I are living in England this fall while I am a visiting scholar at the University of Oxford’s Wycliffe Hall. We’ve been here for just over a month, and it’s been a really fantastic experience so far (click here to watch a few fun videos we’ve made). Despite the healthy rivalry between Oxford and Cambridge – not to mention the ongoing pandemic – I reached out to the folks at Cambridge Bibles to see if a visit might be possible.
The next day I received an email from Amanda Taylor, the Marketing & Sales Executive for Cambridge Bibles. She had some kind things to say about Bible Review Blog, and she told me they would love to welcome me to Cambridge for a visit. The only catch was that their offices were not open due to Covid-19 restrictions. “However,” Amanda said, “the Cambridge University Press Bookshop in Trinity Street — the oldest bookselling site in the country — is open, and it should have a copy of all our Bibles in print.”
I was beyond excited.
We both looked at our schedules, and wouldn't you know it… the date we landed on was my birthday!
Becca and I headed to the Oxford train station that morning, and we arrived in Cambridge about three hours later. After a quick bite to eat at Honest Burgers, we made our way into the center of town to find the CUP Bookshop, which is located in the perfect location just across the street from King’s College Chapel and right next door to Great St. Mary’s Church.
The Full Lineup
There is a stone placard above the main entrance to the Cambridge University Press Bookshop informing visitors that it is the “longest continuing operating bookshop site in England, where books were first sold in the 1580s.” It’s amazing to think of the history and legacy that this building represents. Today, Cambridge University Press has thousands of employees in offices around the globe, and as we stepped inside the bookshop we were greeted by two of those employees: Amanda Taylor and her co-worker Abigail Walkington, the Publishing and Brand Manager for Cambridge Bibles. Amanda and Abigail make up one half of the Bibles team, and they were so kind to spend the afternoon with us discussing their Bibles.
We made our may to the second floor of the bookshop, and it was hard to contain my excitement when we rounded the corner of the Bibles section and I found myself standing in front of two large bookshelves filled with Cambridge editions in every translation, layout, and binding option available. For Bible lovers, this little section of the CUP Bookshop is truly something special, and the only reason I have any of these photos to share is because my amazing wife had the presence of mind to capture them while I lost myself in this Bible wonderland.
For the next 90 minutes, I was able to pull anything I wanted down from the shelves. As I opened boxes left and right, Amanda and Abigail were right there to be my guides, answering questions and helping me wrap my mind around the vast lineup of Bibles that Cambridge has to offer. A few notable moments for me were the time spent with the Lectern Bibles (more massive than I expected with incredibly thick paper), the KJV lineup (they showed me a Turquoise from the 1990s with a really cool Family Records section in the middle of the Bible), and the latest edition of the New Cambridge Paragraph Bible (fantastic single column KJV layout with a new cover featuring a sketch of King’s College Chapel). Of course I looked at every last one of their NRSV editions, and I’m still convinced that the brown cowhide NRSV Reference Edition is the loveliest Bible they make.
After the initial rush of adrenaline and excitement finally wore off, I was able to settle down and start asking proper questions, including those that many of you sent me via the Bible Review Blog social media accounts on Instagram and Facebook. Take a look at a few photos, and then I’ll fill you in on what I learned.
Amanda shows me the differences between the Concord and the Turquoise, two of Cambridge’s flagship King James Version editions.
Topaz Update
Many of you asked me to get an update on the NKJV Topaz. It’s been about a year since Cambridge Bibles unveiled the ESV Topaz, a larger format reference Bible that has proven to be extremely popular, and the Bible world has been waiting anxiously for news about the next edition of the Topaz.
I’m happy to report that we can expect the NKJV Topaz in early 2021. Cambridge was initially hoping to make the NKJV Topaz available this year, but as we all know, 2020 has been quite a challenging time. One might think that new editions of the Topaz line will be fairly easy to produce since Cambridge already has the main layout dialed in, but it’s not just a matter of copying and pasting the text into a template. Typesetting an established Bible design in a new translation requires a significant amount of work. Amanda and Abigail told me that they have been working tirelessly on the NKJV Topaz throughout the pandemic, and I can tell how much they care about getting it right.
As far as a specific release date and what color options the NKJV Topaz will be offered in, you can expect the return of Cambridge’s “Topaz Tuesday” announcements soon, with all the information you could ask for and more. I think it’s worth noting that the team at Cambridge Bibles pays close attention to social media, including the comments sections of their own accounts as well as some of the Facebook groups we all know and love. Amanda and Abigail mentioned more than once that the feedback of the online community absolutely factors into the decisions they make, and I think that’s really neat.
I can also confirm that we will be getting a KJV Topaz in 2021 as well, and the plan is to continue expanding the Topaz line into other translations after that.
Even More
If two new Topaz editions in 2021 weren’t exciting enough, I’m also able to share that Cambridge has even more new Bibles coming next year. I wish you could have been a fly on the wall when Abigail casually mentioned that there were multiple new releases scheduled for 2021 that no one knows about, and then refused to give me any hints about what they may be.
Well… perhaps I got one hint… but I’ve been sworn to secrecy.
All I will say is that Amanda and Abigail seemed genuinely excited about these mysterious new releases, and I have a feeling that 2021 is going to be a very big year for Cambridge Bibles.
Discussing the Topaz with Abigail was particularly insightful.
A Special Birthday
After all the fun we had opening boxes and exploring the full line of Bibles, Amanda and Abigail took us to a legendary cake shop called Fitzbillies for a special birthday treat. If you ever find yourself in Cambridge, be sure to stop in for some tea and one of their famous Chelsea buns. You won’t be sorry you did!
We ended our day back at the bookshop, where I snuck back upstairs for one more look before making my one purchase of the day, which was an exclusive KJV edition simply called “A Cambridge Bible” (photo below). This little hardcover edition – typeset by 2K/Denmark and printed and bound by L.E.G.O. in Italy – is only available for purchase in person at the CUP Bookshop in Cambridge. I was certainly tempted to buy several larger and more expensive Bibles, but this one will serve as a lovely reminder of my birthday visit with Amanda and Abigail. I am incredibly grateful to them for welcoming Becca and me to Cambridge with such warmth and kindness. I was already a huge fan of Cambridge Bibles, and this experience makes me love them even more.
Let me know in the comments below if you have any questions about by visit to Cambridge Bibles.
Tim Wildsmith
October 2020
