How to Craft a Book in Minecraft (Step-by-Step Guide)

Learning how to craft a book in Minecraft is essential if you want to get into enchanting, build bookshelves, or create written books. Fortunately, the crafting recipe is straightforward and only requires two ingredients. So, check this guide to learn more about the step-by-step resources you need, along with the steps to make books in Minecraft.

Editor’s Note: Last updated on September 21, 2026, to add new details and improve readability

Minecraft Book Quick Recipe and Ingredients Summary

Before diving into the steps for how to make a book, you need a few simple materials, including paper, leather, and, of course, a crafting table in Minecraft. Check out the table below to see the items, the quantity you require, and where to get them:

How to Get Crafting Ingredients to Make a Book in Minecraft

Alright, now that you know the Minecraft Book crafting recipe, you need to find the resources inside the game. This is how you can get paper and leather in the game:

How to Make Paper

Paper is one of the easiest materials to farm in the game. If you want to scale your production, you should make a sugar cane farm in Minecraft, and it will keep generating the raw materials required to make paper. But until then, follow the steps below to make paper in Minecraft:

• Harvest sugarcane that grows naturally near water blocks, such as riverbanks or swamps.
• Place three sugarcane units in a row on a crafting table to get three pieces of paper.

Sugarcane can grow up to three blocks tall, and the only requirement for this plant is to have a water block on the adjacent land. While harvesting, you can leave the bottom block of the sugarcane intact to allow its regrowth.

How to Get Leather

Leather is the second key ingredient you need to craft a book in Minecraft. You can get this material by killing various mobs in Minecraft. So, follow the steps below to get leather:

• Cows are the most efficient source of leather in Minecraft. You can always make a compact Minecraft cow farm to have an unlimited source of leather.
• You can also get leather from chest loot, fishing, and trading, but mob loot is usually the easiest option.
• Other Minecraft mobs that drop leather include horses, mules, donkeys, llamas, and hoglins.

Step-by-Step: How Do You Create a Book in Minecraft?

Now that you have the materials, open the crafting table and follow the steps below to create a book in Minecraft.

• Place three pieces of paper in the top row of the crafting table.
• Then, put a piece of leather anywhere in the crafting area to get a book.
• The book appears in the output slot on the right and can be moved to the inventory.

Pro tip: Since the recipe is shapeless, it doesn’t matter where you put the items. This is a small but useful optimization, especially when you want to automate the process with a crafter in Minecraft.

Other Ways to Get Books Without Crafting in Minecraft

Learning how to craft a book in Minecraft isn’t the only way. If you need a few and you happen to be exploring the Minecraft Wilderness Bound update, you might be able to find the books as a loot material or through other mechanics. So, here is a detailed process to get the books without crafting:

Structure Loot and Bookshelf Harvesting

Books can be found as loot in the chests found in the Minecraft Ancient Cities, shipwrecks, strongholds, and villages. Here is how the books are distributed in Minecraft:

Breaking bookshelves found in Woodland Mansions, Strongholds, and villages gives you books. These are fantastic ways to gain 3x books at once for free. Moreover, a stronghold library can give you enough books for a complete level 30 enchantment setup.

Villager Trades and Gifts

In the Minecraft Java Edition, you can get books from librarian villagers under the “Hero of the Village” effect. You can later use a grindstone in Minecraft to remove enchantments from it.

Disenchanting via Grindstone

If you obtain any enchanted book in the game by fishing or looting structures, you might think of using it on your tools. However, if you don’t need that particular enchantment, use a grindstone to remove the enchantment. This will give you a regular book and a few XP orbs.

What Can You Craft with Books in Minecraft? Enchanting & Decoration

To progress further after learning how to craft a book in Minecraft, you can use it across different systems. Since each of them serves a different purpose, the table below will help you decide where to use them:

Crafting an Enchanting Table

Books are directly related to crafting an enchanting table in Minecraft, and you will just need a single book in the recipe. Along with that book, you’ll need 2x Diamonds and 4x Obsidian to craft the enchanting table.

Building Bookshelves for Better Enchantments

Bookshelves can increase the power of an enchanting table when you surround it with them. To learn how to make a bookshelf in Minecraft, you will require 3x books and 6x wooden planks. Place them on a crafting table to make the shelf. So, get 15 such bookshelves and place them around the table to get the highest tier of enchantments.

Creating a Book and Quill to Write In

Now, how do you craft a Book and a Quill in Minecraft? You will have to combine an ink sac with a feather. This item allows players to write custom text on multiple pages. Once you have signed it, the book can no longer be edited. Therefore, you can later use this book as a guide to roleplay, PvP, and sharing the lore across your multiplayer server.

Trading with Librarian Villagers

Books are tied to the Librarian villager job in Minecraft, which can offer enchanted books in exchange for emeralds. You can also reset the Librarian trades by breaking and placing the job site block, the Lectern. This way, you can receive some of the most powerful enchantments like Mending and Unbreaking.

Using the New Chiseled Bookshelf

To make a Chiseled Bookshelf in Minecraft, you have to use three wooden slabs and six wooden planks on a crafting table. The Chiseled Bookshelf doesn’t involve having any books in its crafting recipe, but this is a functional block that can hold up to six books at once.

These can include regular ones, enchanted books, written books, and even books with quills. However, these bookshelves won’t increase any enchanting power when placed next to the enchanting table.

How to Mass Produce Books in Minecraft

If you’re preparing a large enchanting room or need stacks of books for building, manually searching for them isn’t the most convenient approach. So, here’s how you can mass-produce the crafting ingredients and ultimately make books in large quantities.

Building an Automatic Sugarcane Farm

We already have a guide in place to create a sugar cane farm in Minecraft for you to craft enough paper. When you have built this, the need for paper will be eliminated, and you can focus on collecting leather or make an individual farm for that as well.

Building an Efficient Cow Farm

As for the leather, our Minecraft cow farm can help you collect mobs to harvest a bunch of leather in no time. The best way to build such a structure is by cramming the cows inside a single block unit and using fences or other blocks to prevent them from moving. Now, keep feeding and breeding the cows to increase their number. Once it reaches the threshold for entity cramming, a cow will die and drop all the necessary loot, including leather.

Legacy and Console Differences: Old Minecraft Versions

If you’re playing an older version of Minecraft, you may notice that the modern recipe doesn’t work the way you remember.

Note: If you are playing versions prior to Java 1.3.1, books only require 3 pieces of paper and no leather.

This is why returning players who remember the old recipe may be confused when three pieces of Paper no longer produce a Book in modern Minecraft. For all current versions, you will need 3x Paper and 1x Leather to craft a book.

With that, you are now ready to craft your own collection of books in Minecraft. They are a perfect addition to your Minecraft house. Some players use them on the best Minecraft servers to share their ideas. Others rely on them for unlocking the best Minecraft enchantments. But how are you going to use your books in Minecraft? Tell us in the comments!