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, last longer, and have more of a glossy look.

It will enchant wood, stone, iron, gold, and diamond swords, shovels, pickaxes, axes, fishing rod, flint and steel, and hoes, as well as all armor.

Although it has no effect on enchantment, if the table is surrounded by Bookshelves, various particles shaped like glyphs from the enchantment interface, fly into the book part of the table only when the player is nearby.

In 1.9 Pre-Release 3, 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. The list of words is as follows, as of Beta 1.9 pre-release 3:

"the elder scrolls klaatu berata niktu xyzzy bless curse light darkness fire air earth water hot dry cold wet ignite snuff embiggen twist shorten stretch fiddle destroy imbue galvanize enchant free limited range of towards inside sphere cube self other ball mental physical grow shrink demon elemental spirit animal creature beast humanoid undead fresh"

Jeb mentioned one possible enchantment would add a damage bonus against "undead mobs" when he polled his twitter feed for ideas of what to name the enchantment. He settled on "Smite".

Bugs

 * Enchantments are disabled/do not work 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.
 * In Beta 1.9 Pre-release 3, if a potion in the enchantment slot is right clicked, the game has a chance to crash.
 * 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.

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.
 * When an Enchantment Table is near a Bookshelf, SGA letters will float from the shelves to the Enchantment Table.
 * Amusingly, three of the possible words for enchantments are "the elder scrolls," likely a joke at Bethesda, who are suing Mojang under the claim that their upcoming game "Scrolls" infringes on the name of Bethesda's series, "The Elder Scrolls."
 * Similarly "klaatu berata niktu" are a corruption of "Klaatu barada nikto" which is a phrase the originate from the movie The Day the Earth Stood Still. It is more commonly known from the movie Army of Darkness.
 * Another one is "xyzzy" which is a magic spell in the game "Colossal Cave Adventure" and has been used in several other games as an easter egg or cheat code.
 * Enchantment tables are the first block to have an idle animation.
 * Although the bottom texture would at first glance appear to be the obsidian texture, it is in fact slightly different.