Would you buy a premium leather Catholic Bible?

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mccorm45 said:
Finally, like I mentioned in that previous post, the nicest Bible I own is a French Moroccan leather edition of the NRSV, which includes the Deuterocanonicals/Apocrypha: amazon.com/ReferenceApoc…/dp/0521681316
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Regrettably, French Moroccan Leather is only the third quality leather (after goatskin and calfskin). See this Cambridge explanation. (By the way, note that “Genuine leather” often means pigskin.)

Goatskin
A beautiful and very durable top-quality, natural grain leather. Strong yet supple, it is used for the finest bindings. Traditionally known as Morocco leather.
Code: 
 **Calfskin leather**
A traditional high-quality leather used in fine bindings. It is long-lasting and its suppleness increases with use. Cambridge calfskin bindings use only top-grain leather.
Code: 
 **French Morocco leather**
Leather taken from a split calfskin, slightly thinner than other grades and therefore flexible and soft even when new. A French Morocco binding offers high-quality real leather at an economical price.
Code: 
 **Bonded leather**
Cambridge uses only bonded leather which is made from 100% real leather fibre, reconstituted with a strong resin bonding. That is simply the best quality bonded leather available – supple, handsome and durable.
Code: 
 **Imitation leather**
  A less expensive material that has a good resemblance to real leather. It has an attractive feel is easily cleaned.


 **Berkshire leather**
  A term for pigskin — the material most commonly used in bookbinding when  'genuine leather' is the description used.
 
shouldn’t this poll, based on the subject line have a “no” option? Anyway, I am planning on doing exactly this soon. My fiance and I are currently checking these out. I’m partial to Douay-Rheims, she’s looking at a different one. We’ll see what happens.
 
:newidea:How about writing to the prominent Bible publishers, and telling them exactly what we all keep saying to each other?
I’m not saying it would produce miracles, but if you fire off a nice (well written, polite but firm) letter saying something like,
“I was so thrilled to hear that you were publishing a genuine leather edition of [Catholic version the publisher publishes]. Imagine my disappointment to discover that your definition of ‘genuine leather’ is actually :crying:‘genuine artificial leather’. In a discussion with friends, we came up with the following description [insert such things as sewn binding, opaque paper, real pigskin/goatskin/;)otherleatherycreature cover].I hope that you will consider publishing such a Bible, as many of us will be buying it. Respectfully yours, CAF Poster”.
For that matter, write to publishers like Nelson, who publish a gazillion Protestant Bibles in quality bindings, asking why they are negelcting “Christians of the largest Christian body on earth, the Catholic Church”, and enclose a copy of relevant papal letters (like the ones in my Douay Rheims) on the importance of the Bible in the life of Catholics. It might not hurt to mention that “this is why Catholics do not purchase Bibles from your company”, and again stress how many Catholics there are, and how much you all are wanting a truly high-quality Bible.

You know, I have my grandfather’s (the Baptist pastor’s son) Bible, and it is in near perfect condition. And I KNOW the man studied it morning & night & carried with him wherever he might be. So you know that the ability to publish quality (not luxury; quality) Bibles is out there, and las been since the 19th C., at least. So where are the Catholic Bibles of comparable materieals??? Somebody somewhere has:eek: missed the boat!!
 
I spent just a few months ago $125 on a copy of the vulgate and around $90 on a douay-reims. I bought the douay becuse I love the challage of older english bibles like the kjv but wanted a catholic bible with that style of writing.
 
I’d be interested in a premium NJB, something like an R.L. Allen in highland goatskin. I’d also be interested in either an ESV with Apocrypha, or NRSV with Apocrypha.
 
I just discovered that TAN Books has just released ‘Genuine Leather’ Douay-Rheims Bibles. I have not seen one first-hand to vouch for the quality, but I have contacted TAN Books to get more detailed information.

Douay-Rheims Bible Genuine Leather - Black
tanbooks.com/index.php/page/shop:flypage/product_id/778/

Douay-Rheims Bible Genuine Leather - Burgundy
tanbooks.com/index.php/page/shop:flypage/product_id/779/

Maybe someone has purchased one of these Bibles and can comment on the quality.

David
 
I prefer the Douay-Rheims Challoner version. I own one from Baronius Press and I love it even though it isn’t real leather
 
I have the leather RSV - 2CE, and, to be honest, I don’t really like it. I like the translation, it’s easy to read and study with, I’m just afraid of damaging it. It has such thin, delicate pages, and I wouldn’t dare write in it or use some kind of page marker. I think I’m going to keep it just for reading and get a paperback version (I’m getting the Ignatius Study Bible) so I can mark it up for when I’m engaging in apologetics in person!

I don’t think I’m going to ever buy another leather bound Bible.
 
zach_dunn said:
I have the leather RSV - 2CE, and, to be honest, I don’t really like it. I like the translation, it’s easy to read and study with, I’m just afraid of damaging it. It has such thin, delicate pages, and I wouldn’t dare write in it or use some kind of page marker. I think I’m going to keep it just for reading and get a paperback version (I’m getting the Ignatius Study Bible) so I can mark it up for when I’m engaging in apologetics in person!

I don’t think I’m going to ever buy another leather bound Bible.
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Zach

I also bought an Ignatius Press RSV-2CE, and immediately returned it to Amazon.com. I tried both the flexible and hardcover versions.

First of all, they are not ‘real’ leather (please read this entire post if you want an explanation of what ‘real’ leather is) they are ‘bonded’ leather. The construction was absolutely rubbish in my opinion. The covers were glued on crooked, the text block was wrinkled and coming apart. Junk.

This is the reason that I started this thread in the first place. I’m still on a quest for a very high quality Douay or RSV-CE Bible - and I’m convinced that one does not exist of the quality that a company like R L Allan makes for Protestant translations. ( see bibles-direct.co.uk/ )

I think that your suggestion of getting an inexpensive paperback is probably the best idea for what you want. The purpose of this thread was to determine if their is a market for Catholic Bibles of the quality that a company like R L Allan makes for Protestants, with the associated price tag.

Thanks!!

David
 
tmancath said:
I prefer the Douay-Rheims Challoner version. I own one from Baronius Press and I love it even though it isn’t real leather
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tmancath

I also own the bonded leather Douay from Baronius Press, and I like it a lot. I’d like it even more if it was bound in Highland Goatskin with red under gold gilt page edges - something that I would be able to hand down for a generation or so, and I’d be willing to pay the price 🙂

David
 
dkushner said:
Zach

I also bought an Ignatius Press RSV-2CE, and immediately returned it to Amazon.com. I tried both the flexible and hardcover versions.

First of all, they are not ‘real’ leather (please read this entire post if you want an explanation of what ‘real’ leather is) they are ‘bonded’ leather. The construction was absolutely rubbish in my opinion. The covers were glued on crooked, the text block was wrinkled and coming apart. Junk.

This is the reason that I started this thread in the first place. I’m still on a quest for a very high quality Douay or RSV-CE Bible - and I’m convinced that one does not exist of the quality that a company like R L Allan makes for Protestant translations. ( see bibles-direct.co.uk/ )

I think that your suggestion of getting an inexpensive paperback is probably the best idea for what you want. The purpose of this thread was to determine if their is a market for Catholic Bibles of the quality that a company like R L Allan makes for Protestants, with the associated price tag.

Thanks!!

David
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Wow, David, you are right; the quality of those Bibles seem superb, I wish I could get some good Catholic Bibles like that . . .
 
dkushner said:
Zach

I also bought an Ignatius Press RSV-2CE, and immediately returned it to Amazon.com. I tried both the flexible and hardcover versions.

First of all, they are not ‘real’ leather (please read this entire post if you want an explanation of what ‘real’ leather is) they are ‘bonded’ leather. The construction was absolutely rubbish in my opinion. The covers were glued on crooked, the text block was wrinkled and coming apart. Junk.

This is the reason that I started this thread in the first place. I’m still on a quest for a very high quality Douay or RSV-CE Bible - and I’m convinced that one does not exist of the quality that a company like R L Allan makes for Protestant translations. ( see bibles-direct.co.uk/ )

I think that your suggestion of getting an inexpensive paperback is probably the best idea for what you want. The purpose of this thread was to determine if their is a market for Catholic Bibles of the quality that a company like R L Allan makes for Protestants, with the associated price tag.

Thanks!!

David
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St. Benedict Press has recently released a new assortment of RSV-CE editions, including “genuine leather”.
saintbenedictpress.com/Catholic-Classics/Revised-Standard-Version-Bibles.cfm?ct=1366
 
Jehuty_X said:
// cool…i wonder how good are the “imitation” leather and how long they last???
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Yeah, that is a good question. I own a couple of these “imitation leather/italian duo-tone” for other translations, and yes they have a very nice feel and seem to be fairly durable. But, I have no idea if they will hold up in 5-10 years.

I am also interested to find out if St. Benedict Press included any Bible maps or extras. Also, I wonder if their RSV-CE is newly type-set or is it just a facsimile of the old original RSV-CE from Ignatius and Scepter press.
 
mccorm45 said:
Yeah, that is a good question. I own a couple of these “imitation leather/italian duo-tone” for other translations, and yes they have a very nice feel and seem to be fairly durable. But, I have no idea if they will hold up in 5-10 years.

I am also interested to find out if St. Benedict Press included any Bible maps or extras. Also, I wonder if their RSV-CE is newly type-set or is it just a facsimile of the old original RSV-CE from Ignatius and Scepter press.
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mccorm

Hey, it’s been a while. I hadn’t seen St. Benedict Press’s recent offerings, but it appears that they have a close relationship with TAN Books:

saintbenedictpress.com/Catholic-Classics/Douay-Rheims-Bibles.cfm?ct=1361

tanbooks.com/index.php/page/shop:bibles/

These look to be the exact same Douay-Rheims Bibles offered by ‘different’ companies. I know that TAN went through some type of re-org or we bought by another company, or something like that, so maybe that explains the duplicate items offered by both companies.

If either company ends up selling on Amazon I’ll buy a DR or RSV-CE since Amazon has such a good (risk free) return policy. I’ve been burned by too many overpriced, cheap quality, Bibles to risk ordering one that I can’t return at no charge.

Dave
 
dkushner said:
tmancath

I also own the bonded leather Douay from Baronius Press, and I like it a lot. I’d like it even more if it was bound in Highland Goatskin with red under gold gilt page edges - something that I would be able to hand down for a generation or so, and I’d be willing to pay the price 🙂

David
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cool. I am quite fond of Baronius Press products. Glad to know there are others that share my views too
 
dkushner said:
mccorm

Hey, it’s been a while. I hadn’t seen St. Benedict Press’s recent offerings, but it appears that they have a close relationship with TAN Books:

saintbenedictpress.com/Catholic-Classics/Douay-Rheims-Bibles.cfm?ct=1361

tanbooks.com/index.php/page/shop:bibles/

These look to be the exact same Douay-Rheims Bibles offered by ‘different’ companies. I know that TAN went through some type of re-org or we bought by another company, or something like that, so maybe that explains the duplicate items offered by both companies.

If either company ends up selling on Amazon I’ll buy a DR or RSV-CE since Amazon has such a good (risk free) return policy. I’ve been burned by too many overpriced, cheap quality, Bibles to risk ordering one that I can’t return at no charge.

Dave
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Been following this thread since it’s inception, and must say that the versions in the links you provide look interesting. Has anyone here ever purchased one of these that can vouch for the quality?

I too have been on a LONG term quest for a high quality RSV, or Rheims Bible. I’ve bought one too many that I have just not been happy with. I own, and do daily reading from the Baronius Rheims version, and I’m not really happy with the quality at all. Probably should have returned it after ordering, as Amazon had it advertised as genuine leather\real etc. etc. at the time, and it’s bonded, rather poor quality, IMHO of course. (I do LOVE the version though, other than the actual physical part of the book).
 
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