2 volumes. 1,356 pages. Initial letters designed by Sumner Stone, hand-illuminated in abstract patterns, created by calligrapher Thomas Ingmire, using genuine gold and watercolors. 18x13, bound in full morocco, blue covers and black spines with red strip separating them, spines lettered in gilt, folding cloth boxes. No. 29 of 400 copies, and one of 150 with the illuminated initials, designed by Andrew Hoyem, printed at the Arion Press.
A superb example of fine printing, one of the most important books to be produced by the Arion press, a massive lectern Bible of exquisite typographic beauty. The Arion Press employed both modern and traditional tools in producing the book. The text was generated by computer for composition, ensuring textual accuracy. The data was then transmitted to the Monotype machine for casting individual pieces of type in lines to be made up in pages with handset type for display and printed on a two-color cylinder press, two pages per pressrun. Typecasting, printing, and binding are done on site by Arion staff, specially trained in the traditional crafts of bookmaking. The paper on which it is printed is mouldmade Somerset, manufactured from all-cotton fiber by the Inveresk Mill in England. The type is Romulus, designed by Jan Van Krimpen for the Enshede Foundry in the 1930’s. The book was available either as unbound sheets, bound in full linen, or in full goatskin (such as the present copy).