It’s the number one selling non-fiction book in the world. At least some portion of it has been translated into over 4,000 languages. And now, it’s one of the latest “luxury” items. The Bible is one of the most recognizable books in the world. It is found in hotels, on grandma’s coffee table, in courtrooms, and on “free” shelves in Christian thrift stores. But sales of luxury Bibles show a growing trend of looking at the Bible as not just a spiritual icon, but a lasting legacy for future generations.

In a recent story, The New York Times highlighted high-end Bible collector Blake Musick, a 38-year-old pharmacist in Johnson City, TN who recently obtained a $200 English Standard Version of the Bible with a cowhide leather cover through Facebook. This particular Bible normally retails for $299. “This is actually God’s word. If it’s something that important, then why not have a really nice copy of it?” Musick said of the expense. For Musick, premium Bibles made of quality materials are like the old “family Bible” copies he keeps from his grandmother. They are built to last. “The way I look at it, when I’m having a hard day, I can pick up one of those Bibles and see where my Grandma underlined a verse or made a note. It’s like sitting back at her house reading a Bible with her,” he said, adding that he has gifted several premium Bibles with his own annotations to his children. “That’s one of the main appeals of buying a Bible that will last your entire life.”

Luxury Bibles are made of the best materials- natural calfskin leather, elaborate illustrations, gilded pages and gold embossing. One imitation copy of the 1846 Illuminated Bible is being sold on Easton Press for $654 (it offers four monthly installments). The Bible cover is made of genuine leather and is inlaid with 24kt gold on the spine. Its description boasts the pages are “hand-sewn” to the spine rather than glued. And while digital downloads of the Bible continue to explode, for collectors like Musick, there is just something about the smell and feel of a quality Bible.

Sky Cline, a luxury Bible seller, said “There’s been a renaissance in the whole field.” Sales of Bibles in general have been inexplicably on the rise since 2021, with the onslaught of the Coronavirus appearing to be at least one catalyst to explain the increase. Bible sales in 2025 were at a 21-year high in the US. In the UK, Bible sales had gone up 134% since 2008. Events like the assassination of Christian conservative Charlie Kirk and the war with Iran have also sparked bumps in the industry. Sam Richardson, CEO of the UK Christian publisher SPCK said that people turn to the Bible in uncertain times, citing “worldwide political and social change, including the after-effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, global wars, the rise of AI, and a growing mental health crisis” bring “questions of meaning and spirituality.” “The significant and sustained upward trend in Bible sales suggests that more and more people are investigating the Christian faith themselves and seeking to draw their own conclusions about its truth,” he told Publishers Weekly. CEO Mark Schoenwald of HarperCollins Christian Publishing noted that growing sales of study Bibles highlighted an important truth. “We just surpassed 10 million units of the NIV Study Bible. What that tells me is people are not just buying Bibles, but they’re actually trying to read them and understand them and then apply them to their lives.”