Old World Craftmanship Meets Cutting-Edge Design

The Paper. It all starts with some of the finest paper in the world, which has long been made in India. Known worldwide for its soft feel, high opacity, strong fibers and smooth finish, the particular paper we chose weighs in at only 45 grams per square meter (gsm). This 100% natural, archival quality renewable cotton "paper" is more like an amazing fabric - thin enough that a one-inch thick stack consists of 1,200 pages (1200 ppi), yet opaque enough to properly display crisp fonts even down to the finest of print, and even the most subtle of shades and color gradations. The natural, unbleached creamy-white color is gentle on the eyes, but won't fade or turn yellow over time. Soft, smooth and inviting, this paper makes for a truly joyful reading experience.

Layout. After considering many common layouts, we were drawn to a single column of text, the way books have been laid out and enjoyed since the beginning. We see the scriptures not as a collection of millions of small chunks, but rather as a great whole. By unobtrusively numbering paragraphs rather than verses, the deeper meaning of passages is more easily understood within the context of the greater story being told, while the reader remains free to refer back to any point in the text using the paragraph numbers and running headers that emphasize your current location in the story, and de-emphasize the page numbers. This brings surprising and delightful depth of understanding that may otherwise be missed. By using this "reader's edition" approach, we find that we want to keep reading!

One other goal was to preserve margins wide enough to allow readers to jot down a few notes, without causing the books to become so lengthy and heavy as to become unwieldy. By shifting the text towards the inside "gutter" of each page, ample room remains in the outside margins for annotations without dramatically increasing the number of pages in each volume.

The Restoration Edition scriptures are laid out using a "16-page oblong imposition" format, which prints 8 pages on the front of one large sheet of paper, and 8 pages on the back, in such precise alignment that once folded and bound, the pages line up in the correct order with each line of text perfectly matching the corresponding line on the back of the same page (called "line matching"). This optimizes page placement on the larger sheet, minimizes paper waste, and makes for an exceedingly strong binding.

Typeface. We chose the "Lexicon" typeface for its grace and exceptional legibility. Since its release in 1992, it has been used in the making of some of the finest bibles in the world, and ours is no exception. We used generous leading (space between lines) to provide a more comfortable reading experience.

Printing. Printing presses have come a long way since Johannes Gutenberg printed the first bible in 1452. Yet, many old-world methods are still used today in fine bookmaking. One time-honored technique is that of printing and binding "signatures" together using needle and thread - a process that still produces the strongest bindings in the world. A signature is a group of pages that are printed on both sides of a single sheet of paper that once folded, trimmed, bound and cut, become a specific number of pages depending on the page size and the size of the press sheet. Interestingly, as a young man John Gilbert knew how to do this, which is one of the reasons why E. B. Grandin hired him to help print the first edition of the Book of Mormon - which also resulted in John Gilbert supplying the punctuation of that edition. Both his original punctuation and many of those original books he printed using this technique remain with us still.

Folding and Sewing. As the signatures roll off the press, they are machine folded precisely, stacked into the correct order, pressed into a "book block", and sewn together using an old-world technique called "smyth sewing." Smythe-sewn bindings are among the sturdiest and longest-lasting in the world.

These are actual photos of signatures produced by our bookbinder, stacked and ready for sewing, as well as sewn book blocks receiving their first layer of cloth backing for support.

Handmade Covers. The leather used in making fine book covers is prepared much differently than that used in making bags, coats or shoes. Making genuine natural-grain leather book covers is an old-world art, that starts with selecting only the finest skins. Ours are tanned using best practices and environmentally-friendly processes in an ISO-9001 certified facility, then hand-selected by the owner of one of the oldest leather producers in the world (he's in his 70's), chosen for their beauty, color depth, absence of major flaws or blemishes, proper grain, and thickness. The leather is marked out with a template, usually yielding 3 book covers per skin (except for water buffalo, which will yield much more due to its size).

After the skins are traced and cut, they are adhered to a polyurethane inner lining that has been reinforced with a 60-120 micron (thickness) PVC insert. Then, the edges are shaped, tamped, and sewn by hand. Skilled workers precisely trim away any excess, and roll the edges of the leather with their fingernails, as has been done for centuries.

The Finished Product. Then everything is ready, the book assembly is completed by hand. Head and tail band made of suede are attached, a continuous spine "hollow" made of sturdy bookbinding cloth is glued in, the book block is seated into the cover, the spine is "blind embossed" with a special die to denote the book title, and each completed book is manually fanned to separate and free the individual pages. Then, it is given one last visual quality check and prepared for shipping.