Description

The Holy Bible, designed and illustrated by Barry Moser, is as thrilling an experience as you’ll ever find inside a dust jacket. Moser, the foremost fine press illustrator of our time, spent four years crafting the 232 relief engravings that illustrate this Bible. Printed in a deluxe limited edition by the Pennyroyal Caxton Press, Moser’s Bible is also available in a reasonably-priced Viking Studio edition on acid-free paper, with a satin ribbon marker, specially-sewn binding, and cloth case. These details give the book, as a physical object, a weight and presence that dignifies its reader. It is no overstatement to say that when you begin turning the pages revelation occurs. Even from the first illustration–Adam and Eve, with unapologetically adult bodies, breathtakingly chunky and imperfect, making their way along a stream in the Garden of Eden–it’s clear that Moser has a vision of God and humanity whose humility will change the way you see the world.

There are so many surprises here: Abram is jaunty (a surprise at first, but one would have to be to say “Here I Am.”); Balaam’s Ass stretches his mouth wide, teeth bared, conveying the comic terror of the idea that God would speak through his creatures; “Jesus Rabonni,” Moser’s first illustration of the Savior, depicts Jesus as such a goofy, joyful, solid man that your heart will leap, wanting to be with him. And in some measure, Moser’s Bible will bring everyone who touches it a little closer to that rabbi.