Enchanting Table

The Enchantment Table is a block. Notch has stated that Enchanting will work in three stages and the effects will be based on the spell you choose, but a random loot element will be included as well. Each spell will cost the player experience levels but in turn allow the player to enchant armor and swords so that they will be more powerful and last longer. Enchanted items will have more of a glossy look.

The Table will enchant swords, shovels, pickaxes, and axes of wood, stone, iron, gold, and diamond, as well as all armor. The hoe, shears, bow, fishing rod and flint and steel cannot be enchanted.

If the table is surrounded by Bookshelves, with one block of air inbetween, various particles shaped like the glyphs from the enchantment interface float from the bookshelves into the book part of the table only when the player is nearby. According to Jeb, having Bookshelves near an enchantment table will increase the potency of enchantments.

In 1.9 Pre-Release 3 and 4, the Enchantment Table can be destroyed with a single punch, but only drops as a block if it is harvested with a Pickaxe.

History
Notch first tweeted about the Enchantment Table on September 30th 2011.

Enchantments
Enchantment names are randomly constructed from a long list of words. Three to five words are chosen from the list and appended to each other, creating the enchantment name. Any name can be chosen for any item. Note that the names are not actually saved with the item, they are only displayed in the Enchantment Table interface, albeit with the Standard Galactic Alphabet.

Some of the possible enchantments are Bane Of Arthropods, Smite, and Fire Aspect. All enchantments have a level associated with them, from I to V. The code supports displaying levels up to X, and for some enchantments will continue to boost the power of the enchantment indefinitely if the level is increased with an external editor. This has been confirmed to work on both single player and multiplayer.

Enchantments as shown in the table have an associated level, but this is actually the cost, in terms of skill points or levels, to apply this enchantment. The actual enchantment given is randomly selected based on the cost, where a higher cost equates to more powerful enchantments.

A normal table can only enchant up to a cost of 5, but surrounding the table with bookshelves will increase the power up to a maximum of 50 (as of 1.9pre4).

Weapons with enchantments may have particle effects when they are used to attack, depending on the enchantment.

Trivia

 * Notch commented on Reddit "Oh, it's more magical than that! It automatically opens up and turns towards players who get close to it. When nobody is around, the book is closed and spins slowly."
 * Notch comments on other book animations. "Yes, the pages flip randomly every now and then."
 * On October 1st 2011, Notch tweeted an image of the enchantment screen, with enchantments written in the Standard Galactic Alphabet. The first enchantment translates onto "Well Played Internets You Are Good", the second translated into "These Names Will Be Random And Confusing", and the third translates to "Each Spell Costs Experience Levels". The Standard Galactic Alphabet or SGA was originally created by Tom Hall for use in the Commander Keen series of computer games.
 * Although the bottom texture would at first glance appear to be the obsidian texture, it is in fact slightly different.
 * Clicking on an item in the enchantment slot, with an identical item or a dirt block allows you to quickly cycle through available spells without the item being removed from the enchantment slot. This keeps you from having to click twice.

Bugs

 * Enchantments are disabled in Beta 1.9 Pre-release 3's SMP. If a player attempts to enchant an item, it will appear enchanted for the client, but will update with the unenchanted status once the player logs out and then back in again.
 * If you shift click an item into the enchanting table the game will crash. (In both creative and survival modes)
 * The enchantment Table Block breaks with a single punch with an empty hand. This is most likely not intended since it is made of obsidian.
 * Breaking the enchantment Table Block by hand seems to destroy it permanently, losing the diamonds and obsidian needed to make it.
 * When playing on a Beta 1.9 pre-release 3 server, if an enchantment table is broken and replaced with another Tile Entity block, the enchantment table's book will continue to be rendered on the client, and activating it will crash the client.
 * When holding an enchanted item above the book graphic in the enchantment GUI, the item's glow bleeds out into the book graphic.
 * By using a pickaxe with the Silk Touch enchantment, it is possible to harvest and bring ice into the Nether and melt it for water. (unknown whether intended or not)
 * In Beta 1.9 Pre-release 4 if you destroy a chest that contains any enchanted items, the items become unenchanted. This bug was fixed in Beta 1.9 Pre-release 5. http://www.reddit.com/r/Minecraft/comments/lr0cs/195_changelist/</ref.