The Göttingen B42 Bible is one of the four extant completely preserved copies on vellum. The other three are in the British Library in London, the Library of Congress in Washington and the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. A hand-written comment on the margin of the Göttingen Bible indicates that this copy originally belonged to a monastery which was probably located in Calenberg-Göttingen, a part of the Guelph territory.

From 1587 on, the Bible was in the possession of Duke Julius of Brunswick. The Bible then came into the possession of the University Library at Helmstedt together with the older Wolfenbüttel Library. The Helmstedt Library was dissolved in 1812 - at the time of the Kingdom of Westphalia - and from there the Bible found its way to Göttingen.

In Göttingen that same year, the Pauliner Kirche had just been renovated for use as a library room by adding an additional floor. It is in this newly renovated Historical Room that the Bible will now be presented to an interested public.