ABSTRACT
In order to determine the place of a particular Bible edition within the confessionalized landscape of the Early Modern Era, Church historians often use a kind of checklist of biblical passages that are liable to a confessionally-colored rendering and that facilitate the scholar in situating an edition within a determined camp. Theories on the 'Bible as an object' have raised the question of how 'objective' features of Bibles could be used as agents of a definite confessional character and may inform us about intended readers and actual users. Apart from the 'objective' traces that users left behind, they often deliberately introduced all kinds of annotations. The first and most common inscriptions are data of provenance and ownership notes. The study of the Bible in the Reformation should not only concentrate upon text and paratext, but should also take into account the material aspects of certain editions and even devote an increasing interest in individual copies.
