Church Bible Publishers’ water buffalo is one of the best leathers for Bibles that I’ve seen. It has a beautiful grain and looks and feels elegant. It’s available in several colors for various Bibles. The mid-size editions have been available in a full-yapp version. Now, the hand size editions get the full-yapp treatment. In this review, I’ll take a look at the full-yapp, hand size Turquoise in cranberry water buffalo and compare it to several other Bibles.
CBP loaned this Bible for an honest review. I was not required to give a positive review, only an honest one. All opinions are my own.
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This Bible is available from Church Bible Publishers
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Table of Contents
Video Review
Binding
The cover was made by AA Leather. The cranberry water buffalo has an elegant texture and grain. It’s soft, but it looks and feels rugged. This leather doesn’t scratch easily and it doesn’t warp in a hot car. It doesn’t take the impression of something it’s sitting on or something that’s sitting on it. The cranberry has a lot of visual texture that draws me to it. So far, this is my favorite leather that I’ve seen from CBP.
It has perimeter stitching with a full, 7/8″, yapp. The yapp has a tooling line next to the stitching. It has a slight bend (which I personally prefer), but it bends easy enough and I’m sure it would keep its bent position if you wanted it to.
It has nothing printed on the front. The spine includes 5 hubs and the text (HOLY BIBLE, Authorized King James, and CBP) are stamped in gold.
The liner is edge-lined cowhide. The tab isn’t overly stiff. This liner is almost black and also has an elegant texture. The cover doesn’t overlap the liner. Instead, the two pieces of leather meet, creating a smooth connection that you can see but not feel. The corner work is elegant and stands out.
It has 3 3/8″ ribbons and gold and brown head/tail bands. They’re double-sided satin.
Hand Size Turquoise
The latest edition of the Hand Size Turquoise has paper with a rougher texture. It’s white in color and highly opaque. It doesn’t have glare under direct light. I found it easy to turn pages. The gilted edges are gold.
This edition has the Cambridge dictionary in the back. It does add around 1/8″ to the thickness, but this isn’t noticeable unless it’s next to an edition without it.
Comparisons
Here’s how the Water Buffalo compares with some popular goatskin and calfskin editions.
Hand Size Turquoise Ironed Calfskin
The Hand Size Turquoise Ironed Calfskin is smaller because of the thinner cover and lack of a dictionary. I actually like this paper better, but the paper in the current edition is still excellent.
Turquoise Chocolate Water Buffalo
The Turquoise Chocolate Water Buffalo is a different color, but it’s the same leather. This edition doesn’t have the yapp. The two editions make a great combo.
Treveris Calfskin with Yapp
The Treveris is is a yapp edition in marbled mahagony calfskin. The yapp isn’t as large and the grain is smoother. This calfskin is a higher quality than that from CBP. I’d love to see CBP use a calfskin leather more similar to this one.
Canterbury with Full Yapp
The Canterbury with Full Yapp is a goatskin edition. Its yapp is slightly smaller. The leather is more flexible.
Conclusion
The hand size full yapp water buffalo from CBP looks and feels elegant. The water buffalo is my favorite leather from them and is a contender for my favorite Bible leather in general. The full yapp does make the Bible feel larger when opened, but I love the look and feel of the yapp when carrying it and it still doesn’t feel like a large Bible. If you’re a full yapp fan, you’ll love the full yapp hand size editions from CBP.
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This Bible is available at CBP
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CBP loaned this Bible for an honest review. I was not required to give a positive review, only an honest one. All opinions are my own.
This is a beautiful Bible. The cover and liner are this look amazing.
I really like the idea of a personal sized Turquoise. To my own surprise, I do not like the normal sized Turquise as I had expected to or wanted to. The font size of the Turquoise is simply too big for me. The layout, font style, references and everything are great, but I simply don’t like the font size for reading. Reducing the size, as this CBP version does, make it a great option, and adding the dictionary is a huge plus as well.