[Happy Monkey]

That's not a crucial difference at all, since when I say "the Bible", I am referring to the writing in it. And if you are not referring to it's contents, then saying "the bible itself is fact" is not a semantically meaningful sentence. A book can't be fact. It's contents can include fact.

If, when referring to a book, I am ever referring to anything but its contents, I'll make special mention of which non-content-related aspect of the book I am talking about.