Got my Douay “Ultra Soft” a few days ago from Mark at All Catholic Books, only took 3 days to get it!
Kudos to St Benedict Press / Tan Publishing (They are one in the same) what a beautiful Bible
I love my Baronuis, it’s from 2004 so it’s the Genuine Moroccan leather, before the change, but I got this one for the newer layout, ect.
When I talked to Tan they told me the Ultra soft cover is more leather like than the real leather.
They call the Ultra soft “Dura hide” its soft leather.
I was disappointed when I first took it out of the box because it actually looked like “rubber”
But I was so impressed with the way it was laid out that I was determined to keep it.
This review says it all
absnospin.blogspot.com/2009/08/review-tans-new-paperback-douay-rheims.html
The layout, font, typeset, references, maps, physical size, everything about it was great,just what I wanted, except that darn cover!
Since I was repeatedly assured that "Durahide was genuine leather, I saw no reason why a coat of black shoe polish would not work.
I tried “liquid polish first and it didn’t want to “penetrate” so I tried the Kiwi canned wax and it worked beautifully.
Before “you try this at home” I have to post this disclaimer.” I will not take any responsibility for any one who tries this and messes up their new bible.”
I put a very small amount of black
canned Kiwi paste shoe polish on a rag and rubbed it onto the cover using small circular motions, just like polishing a pair of shoes “old school” very careful not to get any of the polish or polish residue on the gold gilding. I put a sheet of paper between the cover and the pages, for extra protection, but I was still very cautious about getting any of the polish on the edges of the cover where it might come in contact with the pages. I applied a couple of coats rubbing the polish off to a dull shine between coats. I “restored” an old leather bible this way so I was comfortable doing this and it worked beautifully. After the final coat I continued to make sure all the excess polish was gone by rubbing again and again a few times the following day. The final result is a soft leather cover that looks like leather, on my new Douay Rheims Bible and that makes me so very happy.

John