How to Make a Book in Minecraft

Books and gaming aren’t usually related in the real world. But in the world of Minecraft, books are an essential item that help you progress through the game. You should know how to make a book in Minecraft if you want to enchant gear, decorate your base, trade, or even express your thoughts. So, in this guide, check out the resources you need along with the steps to make books in Minecraft.

Editor’s Note: last updated on May 19, 2026, to add new details and improve readability

Items Required to Make a Book in Minecraft

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

Items	Amount	Materials Required
Paper	3x	Can be made using 3 sugarcanes, found near water bodies
Leather	1x	Can be obtained from killing cows, horses, llamas, or other mobs

How to Get Paper in Minecraft

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 to grow 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 in Minecraft

Leather is the second key ingredient you need to make a book. 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 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.

How to Make a Book in Minecraft: A Step-by-Step Crafting Recipe

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 random, 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 Find Books in Minecraft

If you need a book for a temporary purpose, it might be best to find it instead of crafting it. You can get books by the following methods.

Looting Chests in Structures

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

Structures	Quantity	Drop Rate
Ancient City	3-10	35.9%
Shipwreck	1-5	34.5%
Stronghold	1-3	89.2%
Village	1	12.1%

Breaking Bookshelves

Breaking bookshelves found in Woodland Mansions, Stronghold, 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 to remove enchantments from it.

Using a 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.

How to Use Books in Minecraft

To progress further after learning how to make 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:

Use case	Function
Enchanting Table	A book can be combined with diamond and obsidian to make an enchanting table, and later used for applying enchantments
Building bookshelf	Books can be combined with planks to make this, and then they can be used to power up the enchanting table
Book & Quill	Books can be combined with ink and a feather to make this, and later it can be used for noting stuff.
Trading with Librarian	Books can be used to trade with Librarians to get better tools, or even some enchanted books
Chiseled bookshelf	Books can be kept inside this to store them

Crafting an Enchanting Table

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

To learn how to make 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 in 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 jobs, who can offer the 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 the 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

There is no way to automate crafting in Minecraft. So, if you can handle the crafting recipe, you can easily mass-produce the ingredients to craft books.

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 these, 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.

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 it 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!