I’m very late to discover this wonderful news, but In October 2019, Cambridge University Press published a Revised English Bible New Testament in green imitation leather to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the translation’s publication in 1989 (here is a link to the information page on the Cambridge website). This edition appears to have the same (or very similar) typesetting to the REB New Testament which Cambridge once published in genuine leather.
The new commemorative edition is line-matched, has gold-gilded pages, features a red ribbon marker, and is currently available for near $30 at both Amazon and Walmart. Book Depository also has it in stock for about $1 more than Amazon as of this writing.
Here is a YouTube Review by Burton Bibles with a thorough look at the features of this New Testament.
If you like the REB this looks like a great buy. It is basically the same New Testament as the leather one that goes for hundreds on the secondary market.
I like the idea of the REB, but something about it just doesn’t stick with me. It reminds me of a story I read somewhere about when the American jazz-rock group Steely Dan was making a record and their engineer stayed up all night mixing a song until he thought it was perfect. When they listened to it the next day though, they judged that it was too perfect and had just become sonic wallpaper with no distinguishing characteristics.
I’m all for a modern version of what Knox accomplished (a semi-high brow dynamic equivalence translation), but the REB isn’t quite that for me. Of course, this is all subjective.
Thanks for sharing your perspective, Bob. I’m intrigued by your perception that perhaps the REB is “too perfect.” Over the last few years, I’ve alternated between the REB, NRSV, and NABRE, and even though I enjoy those other translations, whenever I pick up the REB again I often have the same spontaneous reaction: Yes! That’s why I love this translation so much! The word choices and style of language speak to me in a way that most other translations don’t. We all bring our own uniqueness to reading the bible, and that’s one of the things that makes interacting with other bible readers interesting!
Thank you for post-I wasn’t aware that a (nice) new edition of the REB had been published. I ordered mine on Monday and it came yesterday, record speed. I own a copy of the original red leather cover edition, which this is a very good facsimile of. The cover feels nice and isn’t stiff, the paper is good quality with no ghosting, and the imprint is clear.
For study I use a study edition of the NRSV or the New Jerusalem Bible, but in prayer I like the Revised English Bible, and I find it to have the best-the English style is superior to any other translation. The language is college level and elevated (think of National Geographic). This is a British translation, so a first time reader might find occasionally find an odd word like calumnuy (“false statement”) that new Americans would use or even know–I didn’t know it–but these are very few. The language is somewhat inclusive, in the same vein as the NJB, but not nearly as much as the NRSV.
The REB is not well know, and there are now so many good translations, but it’s well worth looking at.
It is a good translation, but I can’t see myself spending $30 for just a NT. IF I could the entire text for that, I’d buy it