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For the item produced after a Book and Quill is signed, see Written Book.


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
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. 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 114 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[]

Main article: Formatting codes
Information icon
This feature is exclusive to Bedrock Edition. 

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.
  • § + 0f (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.

Chiseled bookshelf[]

Using the chiseled bookshelf while having a book and quill in the main hand will put the book inside the chiseled bookshelf.

Trading[]

In Bedrock Edition, expert-level librarian villagers buy 2 books and quills for one emerald. Book and quill is offered in two item slots due to being non-stackable.

In Java Edition, expert-level librarian villagers have a 50% chance to buy 2 books and quills for one emerald. The amount of books and quills needed is supposed to be 2, but due to the item being non-stackable, only one is needed for the trade.[1]

Sounds[]

Java Edition:

SoundSubtitlesSourceDescriptionResource locationTranslation keyVolumePitchAttenuation
distance
Page rustlesMaster VolumeWhen the page of a book is turneditem.book.page_turnsubtitles.item.book.page_turn2.01.016
Page rustlesBlocksWhen the page of a book is turned on a lecternitem.book.page_turnsubtitles.item.book.page_turn2.00.9-1.016
Book thumpsBlocksWhen a book is placed on a lecternitem.book.putsubtitles.item.book.put1.01.016
Book placedBlocksWhen a book and quill is placed in a chiseled bookshelfblock.chiseled_bookshelf.insertsubtitles.chiseled_bookshelf.insert0.8varies [sound 1]16
Book takenBlocksWhen a book and quill is removed from a chiseled bookshelfblock.chiseled_bookshelf.pickupsubtitles.chiseled_bookshelf.take0.8varies [sound 2]16
  1. Can be 1.0, 0.85, or 1.1 for each sound
  2. Can be 1.0, 0.8, or 1.1 for each sound

Bedrock Edition:

SoundSourceDescriptionResource locationVolumePitch
SoundWhen the page of a book is turneditem.book.page_turn2.01.0
BlocksWhen a book is placed on a lecternitem.book.put4.81.0
BlocksWhen a book and quill is placed in a chiseled bookshelfinsert.chiseled_bookshelf0.8varies [sound 1]
BlocksWhen a book and quill is removed from a chiseled bookshelfpickup.chiseled_bookshelf0.8varies [sound 2]
  1. Can be 1.0, 0.85, or 1.1 for each sound
  2. Can be 1.0, 0.8, or 1.1 for each sound

Data values[]

ID[]

Java Edition:

NameIdentifierFormItem tagsTranslation key
Book and Quillwritable_bookItembookshelf_books
lectern_books
item.minecraft.writable_book

Bedrock Edition:

NameIdentifierNumeric ID FormItem tags (JE)Translation key
Book and Quillwritable_book510Itemminecraft:bookshelf_books
minecraft:lectern_books
item.writable_book.name

Item data[]

Java Edition:

Main article: Player.dat format
  •  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, so 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
1.3.112w17aBook and Quill JE1 BE1 Added books and quills.
1.7.213w36aBooks and quills can now be crafted with a written book to clone the written book.
1.814w05aCopying 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.
14w25aBooks and quills now use JSON text components instead of plain text with the new pages tag
Book and quills are now capable of using the clickEvent and hoverEvent tags.
1.1317w47aPrior to The Flattening, this item's numeral ID was 386.
1.1418w43aBook and Quill JE2 BE2 The texture of books and quills has now been changed.
Added support for editing anywhere in the book and quill.[2]
Books and quills now have copy/paste support.[2]
The page limit of books and quills has now been increased from 50 to 100 pages.
19w11aLibrarian villagers now buy books and quills instead of written books.
1.20
(Experimental)
22w42aBooks and quills can now interact with chiseled bookshelves.
Bedrock Edition
1.2.0beta 1.2.0.2Book and Quill JE1 BE1 Added books and quills.
1.4.0beta 1.2.14.2Books and quills can now be found inside buried treasure chests.
1.6.0beta 1.6.0.1Pages within books and quills can now be turned using the controller bumper buttons.
1.10.0beta 1.10.0.3Book and Quill JE2 BE2 The texture of books and quills has now been changed.
1.11.0beta 1.11.0.4Books and quills can now be sold to librarian villagers.
Legacy Console Edition
TU25CU14 1.17 Patch 11.0.1Book and Quill JE1 BE1 Added books and quills.
PlayStation 4 Edition
1.90Book and Quill JE2 BE2 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.[3]
  • 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]

Gallery[]

References[]

External links[]

See also[]

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