Large Print Bibles

(1) The American Bible Society publishes a complete 18 point font, King James Version (KJV) in one volume (about $35), Both Dake and Holman publish a one volume, complete KJV that are truly large print (18 point font), These each have a different shape (either longer, wider, and/or thinner) and different fonts and paper / ink contrast, and different paper quality.

There are of course, heavier than Bibles with smaller font. Another personal choice with each different KJV has to do with finding a Bible cover that fits and finding the location on the page of a certain portion of text a person expects from their past reading experiences since the layout will be different.

(2) The American Bible Society publishes the Good News New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs in Todays English Version in 18 point font, but their complete large print Good News Bible seems to be 12 or 13 point font (the font size is not given).

There are truly large print* (18 point font) Bibles in 3 and 4 volume sets. These may be found in some Christian bookstores and on the Internet.

The Cambridge University Press publishes a complete Giant print (or Pulpit Edition) (18 point font) 4 volume;
(3) New International Version (NIV) (green cover), and a
(4) New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) (red cover), and a
(5) King James Version (KJV) (blue or black cover).

Each of these Bibles in 18 point font, the NIV, NRSV, or KJV Bible are complete in a 4 volume set (about $120 new) with a cardboard case.

(6) Cambridge University Press also sells the Giant Print (18 point font) NIV or KJV New Testament separately, in one volume (about $40 new).

(7) The largest print Bible I have found is from Thomas Nelson Publishing. a 3 volume, 24 point font, King James Version (KJV) called a Giant Print Edition, This is out of print, but I found two used sets for about $80 each on the internet. I have heard of a large print Bible in a loose leaf binder, but I have never found one.

According to the US Post Office regulations, 14 point font is the minimum size for large print for free-mailing for the blind, so although the nomenclature is contrary to the rest of the publishing industry, here are some that may still be useful.

(8) The Giant Print edition of the Living Bible and the New Living Bible published by Tyndale, are each a complete Bible in one volume, but they do not reveal what the font size is. I think they are about 14 or 15 point font. There will often be more than one font size used in a Bible.

(9) The New International Version (NIV) comes in what is called a Giant Print Edition which may be about 14 or 15 point font, but they also do not reveal the font size in the Bible.

For best readability, the ink/paper contrast of each of these needs to be considered. The quality of the paper is also important. If the paper is too thin the print from one page can be seen on the other side of the page which makes it difficult to read.

There are 3 or 4 Bible programs with 20 or 30 Bible versions which allow for increasing the font size for reading on a computer and there are various versions of the Bible on Cassette or CD for listening as well as Braille Bibles.

If anyone knows of other truly large print Bibles, please let me know so that I can add them to my list and/or to my collection.

Rev. John Jay Frank, Ph.D.
[email protected]

*As I understand it, Bible publishers use the terms "large print," "extra large print," and "giant print" in relation to what they consider to be their own normal or standard print size Bibles. They do not consider any other standard such as the National Library or national publishing industry standards for the use of those terms. Thus, if their standard Bible is printed with 9 point font then, if they print an 11 point font size, they may call it large print, or give it some other label, like comfort print, extra large print, or giant print. By the way, the word font means the size of the letters. Font that is 72 points high is equal to one inch in height, 18 point font is a quarter of an inch high. When a person begins to lose eyesight and tries to buy a large print Bible, he or she ususally does not know that the term large print does not mean the same thing as with other publications such as Our Daily Bread, or Readers Digest, or large print books in the library. I read a different version each year and would love to have one volume, truly large print editions of the Amplified Bible, the New King James Bible, The Message, and The English Standard Bible. I own these in what are called large print, but they are not large print.Dr. John Jay Frank has been an Ordained Minister of the Gospel (Rev.) with Pinecrest Ministerial Fellowship (now called Bethany Ministerial Fellowship) for over 30 years. He has been a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor (CRC) for 20 years. He earned a doctorate (Ph.D) from Syracuse University in 2003. He and his wife are members of Westwood CRC in Kalamazoo, Michigan.