Book and Quill

Rarity color	Common
Renewable	Yes
Stackable	No

A book and quill is an item used to write written books.

Obtaining[]

Crafting[]

Ingredients	Crafting recipe
Book + Ink Sac + Feather

Natural generation[]

Item	Structure	Container	Quantity	Chance
Bedrock Edition
Book and Quill	Buried treasure	Chest	1–2	18.9%

Usage[]

Crafting ingredient[]

Name	Ingredients	Crafting recipe	Description
Written Book	Book and Quill + Written Book	2 3 4 5 6 7 8	The input written book is not consumed. The new copies are "Copy of Original" or "Copy of Copy", depending on whether the input written book is "Original" or "Copy of Original". Copies of copies cannot be copied. Copied books of the same generation ("Original", "Copy of Original", "Copy of Copy", or "Tattered") stack.

Writing[]

By pressing use item or long pressing screen anywhere‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]} while holding a book and quill in their hand, the player can open a text editor GUI.

Using this GUI, the player can write a single book up to 100‌^{[Java Edition only]} or 50‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]} pages long, with up to 798 characters per page, with line breaks counting as two characters. The player can write up to 79,800‌^{[Java Edition only]} or 12,800‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]} characters inside the entire book. No page may be longer than 14 lines and each line can have a width of 57 pixels (see pixel width of each character here).

The player has the ability to copy and paste into books. However, the paste does not work if the text being pasted is longer than a single page. Most Unicode characters are available in books, and they may be pasted in without issue.

In singleplayer, the world pauses while a book is being edited.‌^{[Java Edition only]}

Lecterns[]

One can place a book and quill or a written book on an empty lectern.

The lectern then emits a redstone signal depending on the displayed page in the book. On the last page, the lectern emits a signal strength of 15. This is why lecterns are listed in the "redstone" tab in the creative inventory.

Formatting codes[]

Text in a book can be styled using codes starting with the § character (section sign).

§ + k creates randomly changing characters.
§ + l creates bold text.
§ + m creates strikethrough text.
§ + n creates underlined text.
§ + o creates italic text.
§ + 0 – f (hexadecimal) creates colored text.
§ + r resets any of the previous styles so text after it appears normally.

If the player uses multiple codes, and continue typing past the end of a line, the next line exhibits only the last formatting code used.

Signing[]

Books can be signed by pressing the "Sign" button while in the interface. In Java Edition, when signed, a book bears the name of the player who wrote it and a title chosen upon signing. In Bedrock Edition, the book doesn't display the name of the player as the author; instead, the author can be any text the player wants. After it has been signed, it cannot be edited again – it has turned into a written book.

Special characters can be used in the title, if typed from a keyboard that supports them. Alt codes do not work, and the § character cannot be typed even using a keyboard that implements it, meaning titles cannot be colored or formatted in-game. However, on Linux using the compose key to produce special characters does work.

The title of the book can be up to 16 characters long, and the player cannot paste into a title. A "workaround" for the 16-character limitation is to manually rename the book at an anvil, which always costs 1 experience level. This can be done with either a written book or a book and quill – both versions will always display the changed name. If a custom name is removed from a written book, it will revert back to the title it was given during the signing process.

Trading[]

Expert-level librarian villagers buy a book and quill for one emerald. ‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]}

Expert-level librarian villagers have a 50% chance to buy 2 book and quills for one emerald.‌^{[Java Edition only]}

Sounds[]

Sound	Subtitles	Source	Description	Resource location	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	Page rustles	?	Turning the page of a book	`item.book.page_turn`	`subtitles.item.book.page_turn`	0.5	1.0	16
	Book thumps	Blocks	Placing the book on a lectern	`item.book.put`	`subtitles.item.book.put`	1.0	1.0	16

Data values[]

ID[]

Java Edition:

Name	Resource location	Item tags (JE)	Form	Translation key
Book and Quill	`writable_book`	`lectern_books`	Item	`item.minecraft.writable_book`

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Resource location	Numeric ID	Form	Translation key
Book and Quill	`writable_book`	`386`	Item	`item.writable_book.name`

Item data[]

Java Edition:

tag: The tag tag.

- pages: The list of pages in the book.
  - : A single page in the book. Each page is a string and uses the escape sequence \n for a line break. However, the command parser does not accept \n, because of which line breaks need to be set by a player or using loot tables.

Bedrock Edition:

See Bedrock Edition level format/Item format.

Video[]

History[]

Java Edition
1.3.1		12w17a			Added books and quills.
1.7.2		13w36a			Books and quills can now be crafted with a written book to clone the written book.
1.8		14w05a			Copying written books now mark them as "Copy of Original" or "Copy of Copy".
					The copying status of a book is now denoted in a separate line in the tooltip, beneath the author's name.
					Copies of copies cannot be copied.
		14w25a			Books and quills now use JSON text components instead of plain text with the new `pages` tag
		14w25a			Book and quills are now capable of using the `clickEvent` and `hoverEvent` tags.
1.13		17w47a			Prior to The Flattening, this item's numeral ID was 386.
1.14		18w43a			The texture of books and quills has now been changed.
					Added support for editing anywhere in the book and quill.
					Books and quills now have copy/paste support.
					The page limit of books and quills has now been increased to 100 pages.
		19w11a			Librarian villagers now buy books and quills instead of written books.
Bedrock Edition
1.2.0		beta 1.2.0.2			Added books and quills.
1.4.0		beta 1.2.14.2			Books and quills can now be found inside buried treasure chests.
1.6.0		beta 1.6.0.1			Pages within books and quills can now be turned using the controller bumper buttons.
1.10.0		beta 1.10.0.3			The texture of books and quills has now been changed.
1.11.0		beta 1.11.0.4			Books and quills can now be sold to librarian villagers.
Legacy Console Edition
TU25	CU14	1.17	Patch 1	1.0.1	Added books and quills.
PlayStation 4 Edition
1.90					The texture of books and quills has now been changed.

Issues[]

Issues relating to "Book and Quill" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Trivia[]

The in-game restrictions on books are not hard limits. Third party editors or commands can make books have more than 100 pages‌^{[Java Edition only]} (2,147,483,639 pages), more than 256 characters per page (32,767 characters per page), can change author names, and can have colored titles, among other things. These books still function properly in vanilla Minecraft, meaning the player may encounter such books on adventure maps or multiplayer servers.^[1]
If the player renames a book and quill in an anvil before signing it, it retains the name from the anvil instead of taking the name from signing.‌^{[Java Edition only]}
If the player renames a book and quill in an anvil before writing in it, they cannot write anything in the book. If something is written in it before it is renamed, then it functions normally.

Gallery[]

The first image of a book seen.^[2]
The GUI of writing a book.
The GUI of signing a book.
A signed book.
Display of styles used in a book. "e" and "f" are difficult to see.
A book and quill in Bedrock Edition.