Minecraft Wiki

The Minecraft Wiki has moved from Fandom; see the linked discussion page for details.

READ MORE

Minecraft Wiki
Advertisement

Written books are an item created after a book and quill is signed. The icon of the written book is slightly different from the book and quill's icon, showing the same red book, but without the quill, and appears to be enchanted.

Obtaining

Writing

Written books can be obtained from a book and quill by signing it. After it has been signed, it can not be edited again. The label does not say "Written Book", but what the player titles it. It will say the title on the top line of the label, and "by <player>" on the bottom. <player> is the username of the player who signed the book.

Copying

Ingredients Crafting recipe Description
Book and Quill +
Written Book
Written Book
Written BookWritten Book2Written Book3Written Book4Written Book5Written Book6Written Book7Written Book8
The input written book is not consumed.
The new copies will be "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") will stack.

Usage

Written books can be opened by right-clicking, and will display a GUI allowing you to read it or turn the page.

The contents of a book are an extra set of data attached to the item. This means that when a book is destroyed, its contents are lost with it.

Trading

Two written books can be traded to a librarian villager for 1 emerald as part of their tier 3 trades. The two books must be stacked (and therefore must be identical); despite the trading interface having two slots, the villager will not trade for one book in each slot.

History

release
1.3.112w17aAdded written books.
12w22aWritten books are used in trading.
1.7.213w36aWritten books can now be cloned the same way maps can, but by using Book and Quills instead of Empty Maps. Multiple copies of the same written book can be cloned by putting more book and quills in the crafting grid.
Written books can also be stacked (up to 16 per stack).
1.814w05aCopying written books will now mark them as "Copy of Original" or "Copy of Copy". The copying status of a book is denoted in a separate line in the tooltip, beneath the author's name. Copies of copies cannot be copied.
1.915w33cA written book titled "Work in Progress" generates within a hopper as a part of the end ship in the end cities. It reads: "We will have something else here soon..." and is signed by Searge.
15w41aEnd ships no longer contain a written book.

Trivia

  • When written books are obtained with commands (without the correct data tag), the label will only show "Written Book" and will have the text "*Invalid book tag*" when opened. It has no label saying if it is a copy, original ect. The book is signed and cannot be edited without commands. Attempting to clone it crashes the game
  • A written book can be edited in 1.8 using tag data tag while in a chest or when a mob is holding.

Gallery

Issues

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

See also


Advertisement