More Notes from Summer: TruTone Longevity?

This is not going to be a dystopian post, in which a supposedly wonderful innovation (like robot servants) turns into a nightmare (like robot masters). But over the summer I found myself wondering about the longevity of the new imitation leather. I've written glowingly in the past about the flexibility of polyurethane covers. They're more leatherish than pleatherish, and on the rare occasion manufacturers don't go crazy with the color combos, giving us yet another Frankenbible, I think they offer a very attractive alternative to real leather. 

The only downside, though, is that they don't seem to age well. Case in point:

Above: Heat and polyurethane don't mix.

Forgive me for the cell phone picture. The ESV Slimline belongs to my friend Mike Schutt. We did a speaking engagement together, and while he talked, I did what any other self-respecting buddy would do ... I dug through his briefcase. Lo and behold, he was packing a Bible that looked like it had not quite survived an acid attack. Turns out it wasn't acid that did the damage; it was the sun.

I was kind of surprised. With that image in mind, I did a little experiment over the summer while teaching at Worldview Academy. Between lectures the classroom clears out, and students often leave their notebooks and Bibles behind. So I walked the aisles, checking to see how other polyurethane covers had fared. People who read Bible Design Blog might agonize over things like constructing protective slipcases to protect their Bibles, but high school students at summer camp rarely do. As a result, I spotted more than a few raggedy examples like Mike's. 

As I've written, there's nothing like a little neglect to bring out the best in a quality Bible. Unfortunately, this seems to be one place where the imitation and the real thing part ways. 

What's your experience been with the TruTones and NuTones and TuTones on the market? Have they aged well for you, or badly? Have you noticed any advantages, wear wise, in comparison to leather? I'm interested in hearing what you've experienced.

Comments

[J.Kru]

A friend had one of the first edition of the ESV trutones to come out. It was originally the grey one with the diamond on the front. After several years of hard use, it looked exactly like a wet tire tube - shiny black rubber. The diamond was still discernable.

I actually thought it was an "inner tube Bible", probably from the same people who brought us the "duct tape Bible."

[Ryan]

I have never seen a tru-tone bible look good for more than 6 months. they always end up with strange discolorations and creases or bends in weird spots. Honestly, I would rather have a stiff "genuine leather" than a flexible imitation leather. Its all about durability for me!

[Michael Swoveland]

I don't own a "poly-Bible" and after reading this I think I am inclined to keep it that way.

In my collection of Bibles I have a Trinitarian Bible Society edition called the "Windsor Text Bible." It is bound in calfskin leather and has some other nice features like a word list and Metrical Psalms and it cost a mere $32. I see no reason to spend 29.95 for a "poly-Bible" that may not last until the next snowfall when I can get real calfskin for just $2.05 more.

[Ryan]

michael,
i too own the windsor. the problem is that a great number of us prefer something besides the kjv. it would be nice if such editions were available in other translations.

[Tiffany]

My husband has a tru-tone that he has been using for a couple of years. It has been through some use; he carries it with him often. The cover seems to be holding up, but the cardboard on the inside front has half-way come off. The cover is really floppy, I'm assuming more so than when he first got it.

[stephen.d.harris@gmail.com]

I have the same tru-tone pictured above. It is about 2 years old and is holding up nicely. I take it with me everywhere but, I am also very careful with it. I did leave it in the car one day with another book on top of it and the other book stuck to it and left a little crease.

[H. Jim Keener]

I would affirm what most of the others have said--I and my wife have owned several tru-tone/two-tone, types, and they wear and fade after the first year or so. I was talking to a friend who worked as a Bible saleseman the other day and he pointed to my now well worn Zondervan Reader's Greek NT and said, "those tru-tone covers look great when you buy them, but they always fall apart as soon as you leave the store." I would offer one balancing observation-however: if you can handle the fading and the ugliness, it seems that, in some ways, they don't so much fall apart as wear down. In other words, though several such Bibles on my shelf here beside me are worn and ugly, they are actually still somewhat sturdy, still mostly attached (though there are exceptions to that), and still intact. I definitely cannot say that for, say, my 6 year old ESV thinline bonded leather, where the glued pages are falling out and the cover itself is in tatters.

My verdict: (Most)genuine leather beats tru-tone, but tru-tone beats bonded leather.

[brian blair]

I have a ESV Personal ref and being in the Scottish Highlands it has not had the luxury of sun damage, it has worn quite well. I have not lavished any real care on it and it has been used by my wife and eldest child at times. The main wear is to the endpapers which have all cracked from being bent back. I quite like the added ageing effect if truth be told. meanwhile while my Allan ESV goat is 2 years old and is just beautiful (just thought I would add that).

[Matthew]

Brian Blair

Hey Brian! I'm a Blair too!!! :)

Stay tuned....Allans will soon be releasing their Personal size ESV goatskin very soon...Sept I think.

[Gary Zimmerli]

We work with polyurethane in the auto glass industry all the time, and one thing we know, polyurethane and sunlight don't mix. I would guess that leaving your imitation leather Bible in the sun for periods of time is probably a no-no, if you want it to last. But then, you don't want to leave your real leather Bible in the sun either.

Over time, the sunlight breaks down the polyurethane, which could cause your windshield seal to fail, or your Bible to appear aged prematurely.

Anyway, thanks for this post, Mark, and thanks to all for your comments! This is information I have been waiting for!

[Matthew]

More trutone pics:

http://www.irishcalvinist.com/?p=2820

[Peter M. Lopez]

I have one Trutone NASB that has, frankly, held up better than a couple of my leather Bibles. I don't know that I would ever buy another one because I'm not a huge fan of the "feel" of it, but it looks better than many of my other Bibles still after about 3 years.

[Craig Thompson]

I bought a tru-tone ESV SCR when they first came out - ? May 2007 (other than a hard cover edition that was all that was available and I didn't want to wait 2 months for a leather edition . . . my mistake). Actually loved the layout and I still use it almost daily as a note bible, (my primary bible is now an Allan ESV3BR). But it felt like it was bound with pieces of inner tube and in a few months it was spotted with strange dull patches that did not resemble battle scars of high use so much as a form of bible leprosy.

After about a year, I covered it with black duct tape and though it looks odd, it feels good to hold.

[Bruce Wilcox]

After reading through my Cordovan Thinline ESV the year I bought it, I put it back in its original box with some smaller books on top. A 4"-ish diameter portion of the clear plastic window made contact with the Bible's cover for a couple of months, resulting in a glossy patch on the cover. There was no excessive heat, no sunlight, and only moderate pressure on the window, but the cover is now permanently marked - it has the shiny appearance of some type of liquid that hardened on the cover, just without the extra thickness.

I've another Thinline also in its original box, but I placed the included mail-offer cards between the box plastic and the bible's cover. I'm also keeping a larger volume on top of the ESV's box to distribute the weight of bibles above. No problems after more than a year. I realize the marketing logic of the clear window, but I'm not happy that the window can disfigure the cover with just a little pressure and time.

[Will]

I bought a ESV Trutone Personal Size Reference in April 2008, and whilst I loved the size, it really didn't last well. I'll admit that I do tend to wear out my bibles, but I'd expect better wear. After six months the spine etching almost completely wore off, the cover developed some chronic creasing, and most frustrating of all, started to seperate from the main text block. After nine months and several efforts to glue it back together, I gave up and bought a plain hardback ESV. However, even that is looking distinctly battered now!!

I guess that you get what you pay for, but it just frustrates me that generally bibles seem unable to take what I would consider regular use. Several years ago I purchased a Cambridge French Moroccan leather NRSV, hoping that it would prove a bible for several years' use and ministry; after less than two years the cover dropped off. Why can't manufacturers produce Bibles designed to last the distance? My only conclusion is that either most Christians simply don't read the Scriptures enough to cause wear and tear, or that manufacturers are constantly widening margins with shoddy materials.

Contrast it with my great grandfather's 1887 Eyre & Spottiswoode "Preacher's Reference Edition" KJV (he was a Baptist lay preacher), replete with sermon outlines and study notes from fifty years of ministry. The calfskin cover is fragile, and a few pages are loose, but it is in better condition than bibles a fraction of its age.

[Brandon F]

I have one of the early "Duo-Tone" NIV Compact Reference Bibles that I picked up back in late-2003/early-2004 in Singapore and I'm surprised at how well it has held up with regular use and abuse being in my work backpack over the last 4 years here in Australia. The actual binding hasn't split open apart from one place at the very last page of the dictionary/concordance. I'm guessing it is somehow a sewn binding given I cannot see any glue around the top and bottom of the Bible and the signatures look sewn together. But the cover has become unglued from the front and end papers at all corners and in certain spots, I can see the "non-woven support (made out of viscose)" in white where the coagulated PU has worn off.

I am looking forward to seeing how my Oxford New American Bible (Compact Edition) in Pacific Duvelle holds up as it appears to be a slightly stiffer pleather binding than this Duo-Tone NIV and what's in my black Tru-Tone ESV Study Bible. So far after a couple of months in my bag, it's holding up much better than that Zondervan NIV Compact Reference I've described above. And the gilding even seems to be holding up better too.

The one thing I have noticed here in Australia is that the two main Christian bookshop chains (Koorong & Word) tend to stock either paperback, hardback, bonded leather and Tru-Tone/Nu-Tone/Duo-Tone bindings but finding "genuine leather" bindings (top-grain, cowhide but definitely not calfskin, goatskin or good quality French morocco) is almost an exercise in futility.

The only genuine leather binding that I've found here to be up to my standards of use thus far has been my copy of the Premium Edition Renaissance NIV Study Bible (2008 Edn) which is holding up to a fair amount of use quite well over the last year. That plus my grandfather's old Kirkbride KJV Thompson Chain Reference from 1964 in black French morocco (which looks like it has a semi-yapp style) that has held up incredibly well in the heat and humidity of Malaysia before I brought it to Australia after his passing a few years ago. Apart from some yellowing of the paper, it remains in very good condition compared with some of the other Bibles I have here at home that are about a third of its age.

[Fr. Bill KLock]

My eleven-year-old daughter has a nearly four-year-old ESV Slimline with a TruTone cover and an American Bible Society TEV with a similar cover. Both have taken a significant amount of abuse as you'd expect from a kid and both of them look nearly new -- at least as far as the covers go. The pages are bent, the gilding is messed up, but the covers look great.

I have Zondervan's Reader's Hebrew Bible that is now over a year old and sees daily use. Granted it rarely leaves my desk, but it hasn't worn bit. I can say the same thing for my Reader's GNT, which saw daily use for a couple of years before the UBS Reader's GNT came out and I replace it.

I think the previous comment about Leather being better than TruTone, but TruTone being better than bonded leather is very much true.

[Lee Miller]

In general I take pretty good care of my books, including Bibles, and wouldn't intentionally leave them in the sun. But the sun will damage practically anything. I have a Cambridge Concord KJV in calfskin that I had to leave in a hot car one day--no options--and the heat alone shrunk the lining of the cover (it's some kind of heavy plasticized paper) causing a permanent curve in the leather.

I have an ESV large print Bible in solid brown Tru-Tone. It's really quite nice looking, one of my favorite bindings. Except that I've noticed if I happen to catch it with the edge of my fingernail, it leaves a permanent light streak/blemish in the finish. You can sometimes rub spots like that out of a leather cover, but you can't with the Tru-Tone.

Lee

[David Zook]

I have 3 ESV trutones...a small compact one finally showing wear on the cover 4 years after getting it (used primarily for home visits); a single column 1 1/4 inch margin used for outlining and study; and a slim line that I use for preaching. All of the them hold up well. I keep that later two in their original boxes when not in use. The boxes has taken a battering, but the bible covers haven't.

[Lee Miller]

Slight change of topic . . . does anyone have any experience with the "European leather" that Zondervan advertises for some of their Bible editions? The Zondervan web site describes it as a particularly high quality form of bonded leather, but Christian Book Distributors, for example, calls it "cowhide" in several places.

I'm curious about what it is and how it holds up . . .

Lee

[Bill]

I just got my first TruTone bible (or whatever NavPress calls it) on a Peterson Message bible I purchased as a result of reading this blog. I've started putting Armor-All on it, as I do on my car interiors. Each treatment seems to leave it feeling better and looking prettier, or at least shinier. Anyone else swear by this product, from other plastic uses, and want to try it on these new Bibles?

[Bill]

update to the above post on my Armor-all plug for synthetic leathers:

1. works well on the Peterson Message
2. works wonders on a Walmart-marketed Zondervan single-column NIV
3. haven't even tried it on my Tyndale thinline references-in-paragraph NLT--it feels delightful right out of the box
4. had zero apparent effect on a GNT from the ABS..only carnauba wax seemed to help that rubbery thing. But I love the colorized Annie Vallotton drawings and this is the best binding I know of to get them!
5. worked well on a shelf-worn "leather-grained" hardback pew version of the ESV I restored. The covering over the boards could have been a vinyl or just a plasticized paper.

So mixed reviews. What else is new. But it sure can't hurt anything.

[Chris Bloom]

My blue Celtic cross-emblazoned (heresy on this site, I know, but I like it) compact ESV has lasted three years of literally riding in my back pocket most days. It's beat-up looking, but has held up amazingly well. There are a couple of spots near the corners where the shiny outer layer has rubbed off to reveal the foamy center, but otherwise it just looks broken-in to me. (And that garish blue does fade after a while to sort of a dark denim color.)

The binding itself has also held very well; it's been sat upon, kicked, stepped on, dropped, rained on, and manhandled by my daughters, and has yet to lose a page or show any weakness whatever. For the $15 I paid, I'm beyond satisfied, not least because it was my first introduction to the ESV. I own three now (the compact, a black TruTone Personal Size, and the Study Bible in hardcover) and enjoy them all.

That said, after discovering your site I'm seriously considering upgrading to the Pitt Minion and Wide-Margin Cambridge Bibles. I found you yesterday after googling the Pitt Minion, trying to find some information on them besides just a price and a picture of the box. Thanks for the great reviews!

[manoy]

Just ordered a couple of these trutone Bibles (ESV Personal Size Reference Bible). Hope they hold up as well as the comments here indicated (and not as poorly as the blogpost implied). We live in a hot country, but I don't think I've left a Bible, or any book for that matter, just out to roast in the sun.

Unless being left on the dashboard on a sunny day counts... Hmmm. Guess I better toss it in the backseat from now on.

[Bill]

Manoy, put it in the trunk where it won't get hotter than the ambient air! Any place in the glass enclosure of your car, including the backseat, will suffer from the greenhouse effect of glass trapping energy that re-emits in wavelengths biased toward the IR, so the car interior gets much hotter than ambient.

[Chris Bloom]

Bill, I'm going to try the Armor-All suggestion on Ol' Blue. Thanks!

[Margie]

I'm curious about their longevity in the rain. My daughter's going to take a small Tru-tone NKJV with her to a backpacking wilderness trip. Last year it stormed 3 out of the 4 days. Any anecdotal evidence that this cover will repel rain?

[Bill]

Margie,
It's basically rubber, so should do fine in the rain. Not so much the paper pages themselves nor any gilding on the page edges. I'd recommend a ziplock baggie or a bible case for slogging in the rain.

[bill]

Margie's question above got me thinking about this...
Unfortunately so many TruTone editions that we're familiar with are "portfolio" style or in some way have a split seam as part of their cover. Usually this is a joint between two different colors of material although a rather nice Tyndale zippered NLT that I have even has a mysterious wavy seam across the front even though the two pieces joined at the seam are identical in color and texture. These seams are usually nicely sewn but I sure think they're an unnecessary entrance point for moisture, spilled drinks, etc. into the inner "boards" and cover. Since the stuff is completely man-made, I'm sure the limit to the production width of this stuff is measured in feet, not inches, so I'm thinking the only reason they do this is to be cute. The TruTones I have without such a seam seem to "wear" nicer as well. Am I the only who wishes publishers would stick with a single piece of TruTone for the entire cover?

Another minor beef: Although these can feel quite smooth and "buttery" to the hand, now that I have several of these I've noticed that trying to slide two TruTones against each other when moving a volume in and out of a bookshelf is a monumental task. Even though both feel perfectly smooth, they tend to stick to each other like contact cement. Probably an electrostatic thing. Bonded and real leathers don't have this issue.

[Jess]

I have a sky-blue Tru-Tone ESV that I use daily. It's endured many a day in my bag, in my backpack, in the back seat of the car; it's been tossed around by children, nearly torn in two once, used and abused daily. It's held up pretty well, all things considered. There's some discoloration on the corners, creases in odd places, and the cover ripped from the actual book in one place. But it's still holding up better than I expected. I love the feel of the cover, and I believe the flexibility of the imitation leather has kept it from falling apart. Children can fold my Bible in half without any considerable damage. I'd definitely go with this cover style again, once this one wears out.

[Jeremiah Caughran]

I've a trutone portfolio style. It held up well until I left it on my car and it fell off in the church parking lot, got ran over by another car (I think any way judging from the damage on it), and then put on the church's mailbox and left in the sun for who knows how long....After that, the paper binding attaching the inside to the cover was completely torn on the back and most of the way on the front (fixed with some clear packing tape) and the cover decided to begin attaching itself to anything that touched it for more than 30 seconds....Shortly thereafter, it became my third duct tape Bible (first one in about 10 years however) with some nice blue duct tape. It seems to be holding up well now :D

However, i am very sad that it is a glue binding because after encountering this blog I had the thought of possibly having it rebound after I was done with seminary in a nice goatskin cover, but I am not sure it could be done since it is a completely glue bound binding for the pages....Very sad...But, it is no longer my every single day, throw it in the satchel with everything else abuse beater Bible, so it will probably last for years to come with it's light usage now.