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“The earlier Catholic Bible in English, the Douay-Rheims, was published in 1589 (NT) and 1611 (OT).”

That version ceased printing around 1635.

That's funny. I have one. Yes, it was made from one of the old copies. Keep in mind that possession of the Catholic version would be potentially considered treasonous (which is why it was the Douay-Rheims, and not the Oxford-Cambridge or somesuch), and the project was pretty expensive, which is why it took an extra 20 years to finish the Old Testament. That combination doomed widespread availability.

Yet there was a huge demand for Bibles in English and German. How could that be, if folks only read Latin?

I don't know how "huge" the demand was. In England, the Crown ordered purchases of it (which decreased the price to publish). In the very early years of printing, a large book like a Bible would cost so much to typeset that only the very rich could afford it, which is why they were often encrusted with jewels. One of the first items printed by the German Catholic Gutenberg was the Gutenberg Bible (in Latin, of course), in 1455 or so. Before that he warmed up his presses letting people know of the plenary indulgence offered for repelling the Turks in Cyprus.

We still have trouble coming up with decent translations of Holy Scripture, and it is not something to be undertaken lightly.I had heard about an Eskimo language that has no word for "lamb", so the rendering was "small white creature that looks like a caribou". That's problematic. English, even with its huge vocabulary, does not have all of the constructions that either Greek or Latin have. The lack of the Greek "Middle Voice" is evident when any English Bible describes the resurrection ("raised himself from the dead", "is raised from the dead" etc.) The septuagint traditionally required 70 scholars to do it right. The Crown bankrolled a serious operation to do a serious job and largely succeeded (though there are problems for a modern English reader who doesn't know the KJV meanings of words like "prevent " in KJV English.) The ancient Russians actually made symbols to represent words that did not have an exact match, to avoid error.

It is more important to get the language right than to publish in every possible language.

“I don’t know how “huge” the demand was. In England, the Crown ordered purchases of it...”

That did not apply to Tyndale’s translation, nor to Wycliffe or Coverdale.

In the 1200s, the price of a full Wycliffe’s bible would have taken the average person 15 years to earn - IF that person had no other expenses of any sort! By Tyndale’s time, the price of a complete New Testament was down more than 200-fold.

“It is more important to get the language right than to publish in every possible language.”

By that theory, none of us would own vernacular translations, since no translation is perfect. Indeed, there are disputes about readings in the Greek and Hebrew manuscripts, so perhaps we all ought to ignore the Word of God!

Thankfully, men like Tyndale and Luther disagreed.

From Tyndale’s 1525 translation of John, with original spelling:

“And as Moses lifte vp the serpent in the wyldernes even so must the sonne of man be lifte vp 15 that none that beleveth in him perisshe: but have eternall lyfe. 16 For God so loveth the worlde yt he hath geven his only sonne that none that beleve in him shuld perisshe: but shuld have everlastinge lyfe. 17 For God sent not his sonne into the worlde to condepne the worlde: but that the worlde through him might be saved. 18 He that beleveth on him shall not be condepned. But he that beleveth not is condempned all redy be cause he beleveth not in the name of the only sonne of God.”

I’d rather have nothing but Tyndale’s 1525 translation in 2014 than none at all!

“But God which is rich in mercy thorow his greate love wherwith he loved vs 5 even when we were deed by synne hath quickened vs together in Christ (for by grace are ye saved) 6 and hath raysed vs vp together and made vs sitte together in hevenly thynges thorow Christ Iesus 7 for to shewe in tymes to come the excedynge ryches of his grace in kyndnes to vs warde in Christ Iesu. 8 For by grace are ye made safe thorowe fayth and that not of youre selves. For it is the gyfte of God 9 and commeth not of workes lest eny man shuld bost him silfe. 10 For we are his worckmanshippe created in Christ Iesu vnto good workes vnto the which god ordeyned vs before that we shuld walke in them. ...”