Leonard's Book Restoration Station -- Highly Recommended

Today I want to recommend Leonard's Book Restoration Station to the blog's readers. Back in February of 2014 I had my favorite Bible rebound by them, and I have been thrilled with it ever since. It is a hardcover New Geneva Study Bible in the New King James Version, which has been my daily Bible, as well as my preaching Bible, for at least the past twenty years. But it was beginning to fall apart, so I chose to have it rebound in one of Leonard's historical series of bindings -- the 16th Century Geneva Style -- and it looks like it came right out of the 16th century! It is hardcover with the highest quality goatskin as seen below.

It is hard in these pictures to see the deep burgundy hues that were dyed into the goatskin, but I assure you it is beautiful. Hopefully you can see the quality of the workmanship in these pictures though. For example, notice the hand tooling of the goatskin along the spine and around the edges of the Bible.

I wish I had some before pictures, especially of the inside of the Bible where it had pages coming out and some severely wrinkled pages as well, all of which were admirably fixed by the kind folks at Leonard's.

The "Holy Bible" label (seen below) is an applied black leather with nice gold embossed letters that really pop. You can see where "Leonard's" has been unobtrusively embossed on the bottom of the spine. The hand-tooled spine ridges are also very nice.

The 16th Century Geneva Style rebinding normally comes with only one ribbon, but I asked for three, and they were quite willing to oblige me. Notice also how the Bible lays flat (see below) with no bending of the spine, one mark of a very well-bound book that will last a really long time.

The Bible has a smyth-sewn binding that is hand-sewn, with quality silk stitching on the hand-sewn head and tail bands as well (see below). Notice also the great spacing of the three ribbons. Some Bible binders put their ribbons in really awkward places, or cram them all into the middle, making them very difficult to use in my opinion, but I love the way Leonard's spaced them.

Notice also the dark chocolate brown hand-milled end pages (see below) that help complete the authentic look but are also very durable.

If you're like me, and you like to make lots of exegetical notes in your Bible as you study (see below, and notice again how the Bible naturally lays flat), then you too may rather rebind it than part with it for a new Bible. If so, you may want to give Leonard's Book Restoration Station a try. They have many styles to choose from, but you can also personalize it almost any way you like.

I highly recommend Leonard's for anyone who wants to have a Bible rebound to last a lifetime. You may even want to purchase a new inexpensive Bible and then have it rebound the way you want it. The process was easy, and the folks at Leonard's were very polite and helpful. I would use their services again any time. They can do hardcover or softcover, and they have quality calfskin, goatskin, or kangaroo hide. Check out some of their many options here.

If you want to find a good place to read reviews of high quality Bibles, I recommend checking out the Bible Design Blog. It also has a review of Leonard's 16th Century Geneva Style binding here.

If you are looking to purchase a new high quality Bible, the best place to look is EvangelicalBible.com, which carries Bibles from Cambridge University Press, Schuyler Bible Publishers, Crossway Bibles, the Trinitarian Bible Society, and the Lockman Foundation. It is also the official U.S. distributor of R.L. Allan Bibles, which many regard to be the best leather-bound Bibles available.