Rating: 
Summary: Gorgeous
Review: This is a breathtaking, terrifying, and very human interpretation by one of our greatest illustrators. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Gorgeous
Review: This is a breathtaking, terrifying, and very human interpretation by one of our greatest illustrators. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Myth rendered unreadable
Review: This is a very high quality book. Unfortunately, there is little worth reading and nothing relative or understandable between its handsome covers. It also misses as far as ancient myth and legends are concerned. The Judeo-Christian creation myth and the mandatory flood epoch are covered quickly, but then the stories dissolve into largely meaningless drivel. The second part, on the founder of the christian religion, can merely be considered as nonsense as far as historical facts are concerned. The stories comprising this work were compiled by the Catholic bishops at Nicaea in the fifth century. They picked what they "liked" of the available "gospels" and discarded the rest. To call this book the word of a god is ludicrous.
Rating: 
Summary: bible as artwork and treasure
Review: this is an amazing value for the money- one of the most beautifully produced books i've seen, it's easily on par with the work of london's folio society. illustrations- well, they boggle the mind. moser's people are beautifully alive and imperfect- see pg. 765 "the annunciation"; the look on mary's face holds a world of feelings. the removal of verse index numbers makes the text much more readable. moser's choice of fonts, layout, odd little mark symbols (i know there's a name for them) and the occasional RED letter makes this awe-inspiring work even more beautiful.
Rating:
Summary: Best Bible Around
Review: This is the most beautiful Bible I have ever seen. I had the opportunity to take a class on the Bible as Art co-taught by Barry Moser, and he is a man of tremendous talent and intellect. Why they ever decided to remainder this book, I do not know, but it is truly a loss to everyone.
Rating:
Summary: Readable, Beautiful Family Treasure
Review: We wanted to add a family Bible, a readable work of art that could be displayed with pride, to our collection. And, loving the beauty of the language, a King James Version was another requirement. The idea that truly beautiful, emotion-evoking art could be a part of the package hadn't occurred to us. Then we encountered this Bible. "Readable" took on new meaning as the omission of verse numbers eliminates the distraction of constant interruption. The art is magnificent, as is the language. A great find!
Rating:
Summary: More Timely Than Timeless - Dore or Moser
Review: What book would be better to illustrate in a luxurious volume at the millenium than the Holy Bible itself? Barry Moser, illustrator, took upon a monumental project of illustrating fully the entire text of the Bible. Of course one must realize that not every sentence can have an illustration. The presentation of the trade edition of the Pennroyal Caxton Edition is quite impressive - clothbound with nice pages. Its certainly a unique item unto itself as there are no paragraph numbers which seems to be standard in the King James Bible, however, the typesetting is elegant and attractive. Overall I think Moser did a great job in the whole presentation of this work, and must be happy with the completed product on the printed page. I would also like to point out that Moser completed what only one other person did over a hundred years ago: Gustav Dore. Dore, among his many other works, created engravings for just about every book in the Bible. Moser, like Dore did virtually just that. I thought it would be appropriate to give a comparison of the two works. This being strictly an artistic critique; as for the Bible I feel that it would be silly to critique the text itself for that is not really the purpose of this Bible, otherwise I would not spend 30-65 dollars on a Bible. Furthermore, although the text is not the issue at hand, I would like to comment that I prefer the full text edition with the engravings as opposed to just the drawings themselves. The Dore edition that I am commenting on is printed by First Glance Books (ISBN - 1885440332), this being the only edition I am aware of that is has full Biblical texts as well as the engravings. There is a Dover edition that is available with just the engravings. Comparing the two one can see Dore's immediate majesty and beauty in his works. The lines are delicate while the whole picture tells more than just a scene, but a story. His compostion is almost perfect while the action of his characters are outstanding in a powerful God-like pose, much mor powerful looking. Moser on the other hand I feel has a more heavy handed look than Dore. Dore's pictures, they all take up the whole page, while Moser has small inserts in between his full page illustrations. As someone commented earlier, Moser's work is dark, which I beleived is attributed to the heavy hand, that is the lines are much bolder and thicker in his work. Which I also found some of the work confusing to look at, for instance the Tower of Babel. I could not tell where it was or what I was seeing, although I specuate it was the base of the Tower, framed in a way to add dynamics through composition, which failed due to its darkeness and design. The main difference between the two is that Moser has a subject without a background, usually in some abstract space, while Dore encompasses the whole setting of Egypt, Jerusalem or Bethlahem. Flipping through the two books one will recognize that they both have chosen their own drawings. I dont know if Moser, probably being aware of Dore's version, decided against doing the same scenes, which in some cases were an added bonus, however I feel he missed some of the major highlights of the book. For instance Moser did not do Moses throwing down the tablets of the Ten Commandments, but just showed the tablets in this ethereal space with a few large letters on each tablet. I could also see that Moser used his artistic liscence on some of the drawings, for I would imagine that there is a 'set' idea of how things 'should' look in the Bible which Moser went ahead and drew his own vision, which I commend him for, while Dore went the more traditional route. Moser's characters are much more modern looking, usually in a photographic pose, as if they were staring at the camera while the artist said "cheese." Overall, Moser's edition is much more pretty to look at and handle. More elegant and impressive. However, I feel that Dore's drawings surpass Moser in many aspects. I gave this book 4 stars due to its greatness, as I feel all the work Moser put into it is a mighty task that deserves recognition and commemoration. Its a feat that will not be challenged often. I definately reccomend this, either to the Bible lover, artists of every kind, book collector and those looking for a new Bible to put on their shelves.
Rating:
Summary: The Word
Review: What can I say about The Bible? The greatest book ever, it is more than a book. If you buy one book EVER, this is the one. Non-believers need to read this in any form, but if possible I would recommend this edition for the wonderful design of Mr. Moser. I don't want to spoil the end, but lets just say YOU NEED TO READ THIS BOOK AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. This would make a terrific gift (for yourself or for someone else, it is truley the greatest gift one can give).
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