Family Bibles are no longer just basic text editions recording births, deaths, baptisms, confirmations and marriages—and often collecting dust on bookshelves.

The subcategory now offers a variety of features—including color illustrations, drawings and art, children's stories and pictures, as well as expanded notes and records sections—all designed to encourage family members to read the Scriptures together.

“We believe the family Bible market is trending toward family engagement—not coffee-table fixtures,” Zondervan Senior Vice President and Publisher for Bibles Chip Brown told Christian Retailing.

More than 3,000 units of Thomas Nelson's newest family edition, the $99.99 retail-priced Family Bible: KJV Edition, have been shipped since its October release, “indicating a strong consumer response to the premium keepsake quality of this heirloom Bible for gift-giving,” said the company’s vice president and publisher for Bibles, Gary Davidson. 

In business for more than 37 years and located 45 minutes from Little Rock, Ark., the 4,000-square-foot Bible House—which carries hundreds of SKUs in Bibles—has seen a surge in family Bibles.

“We've had an upswing of families looking for them,” said buyer and owner Karmen Kelly. “We've had a return for people looking for traditional Bibles with record-keeping pages in the front. They're willing to pay more for family Bibles.”

Read more in the April issue of Christian Retailing magazine.