Lectern

A lectern is a block found in villages, and is used to hold books for multiple players to read in multiplayer.

Obtaining

Lecterns can be broken with any tool, but an axe mines it the fastest.

Natural generation

Lecterns can generate in village libraries.

Usage

Lecterns are used for holding book and quills that other players can read at the same time. To use a lectern, right-click an empty one with a book and quill to place a book on the lectern. Then, right click on the book to open and read it - multiple players can read the book simultaneously. The book can be removed from the lectern after placing it down. A player can either put a written book and quill or a unfinished one on a lectern.

Redstone signal

Lecterns holding a book will emit a redstone pulse when a page is turned. A redstone comparator will also record book reading and send a signal, depending on what page the player is currently on. (e.g a book with 15 pages will power 1 redstone level per page, or one with 5 pages will emit 3 signal strength per page.)

Data values

Block states

Java Edition:

Name	Default value	Allowed values	[hide]Description
facing	north	east north south west	The direction the lectern is facing. The opposite from the direction the player faces while placing the lectern.
has_book	false	false true	If the lectern currently has a book.
powered	false	false true	If the lectern is currently outputting a redstone signal.

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Metadata Bits	Default value	Allowed values	Values for Metadata Bits	[hide]Description
minecraft:cardinal_direction	Not Supported	south	east north south west	Unsupported	The direction the lectern is facing. The opposite from the direction the player faces while placing the lectern.
powered_bit	0x4	false	false true	0 1	If the lectern is currently outputting a redstone signal.

Block entity

A lectern has a block entity associated with it that holds additional data about the block. The lectern's block entity ID is lectern.

• [NBT Compound / JSON Object] Block entity data
  • Tags common to all block entities see Template:Nbt inherit/blockentity/template[show]
  • [NBT Compound / JSON Object] Book: The book item, without the slot tag, currently on the lectern, may not exist.
    • Tags common to all items see Template:Nbt inherit/itemnoslot/template[show]
  • [Int] Page: The page the book is currently on, starting from 0, does not exist if there's no book. Value is clamped between 0 and the last page - 1.

History

August 18, 2012							The lectern was an old project of Dinnerbone's. It was meant to be a stand for written books, so they could be easily read. He was well on his way to creating it when he encountered problems and scrapped the idea, but mentioned that he might pick up work on the lectern in the near future. {"type": "", "version": "August 18, 2012", "exp": "", "snap": "", "content": "The lectern was an old project of (link to Dinnerbone article, displayed as Dinnerbone)'s. It was meant to be a stand for (link to written book article, displayed as written books), so they could be easily read. He was well on his way to creating it when he encountered problems and scrapped the idea, but mentioned that he might pick up work on the lectern in the near future."}
December 18, 2013							Dinnerbone states in his Reddit AMA that he has revisited lecterns, but scrapped them again as "something about them just didn't feel right". {"type": "", "version": "December 18, 2013", "exp": "", "snap": "", "content": "Dinnerbone states in his (link to wikipedia:Reddit article, displayed as Reddit) AMA that he has revisited lecterns, but scrapped them again as \"something about them just didn't feel right\"."}
October 18, 2018							Dinnerbone reveals that the lectern is once again in development. {"type": "", "version": "October 18, 2018", "exp": "", "snap": "", "content": "Dinnerbone reveals that the lectern is once again in development."}
[hide]Upcoming Java Edition
1.14							Added lecterns. Old texture delayed lectern was replaced on {"type": "java upcoming", "version": "1.14", "exp": "", "snap": "", "content": "Added lecterns. Old texture delayed lectern was replaced on (link to File:Lectern.png article, displayed as 50px)"}
							Lecterns are currently only obtainable from the creative inventory and have no functionality. {"type": "java upcoming", "version": "1.14", "exp": "", "snap": "", "content": "Lecterns are currently only obtainable from the (link to creative article, displayed as creative) (link to inventory article, displayed as inventory) and have no functionality."}
							Lecterns currently have a BookItem field, which holds the book item to be displayed. However, this field cannot be set and is not written to the block entity. {"type": "java upcoming", "version": "1.14", "exp": "", "snap": "", "content": "Lecterns currently have a <code>BookItem</code> field, which holds the (link to book article, displayed as book) (link to item article, displayed as item) to be displayed. However, this field cannot be set and is not written to the block entity."}
							Lecterns can now generate in plains village libraries {"type": "java upcoming", "version": "", "exp": "", "snap": "", "content": "Lecterns can now generate in (link to plains article, displayed as plains) village libraries"}
							Lecterns now can also generate in savanna and snowy tundra village libraries. {"type": "java upcoming", "version": "", "exp": "", "snap": "", "content": "Lecterns now can also generate in (link to savanna article, displayed as savanna) and (link to snowy tundra article, displayed as snowy tundra) (link to village article, displayed as village) libraries."}
							Lecterns now have a crafting recipe. {"type": "java upcoming", "version": "", "exp": "", "snap": "", "content": "Lecterns now have a crafting recipe."}
							Lecterns can now be used to hold books. {"type": "java upcoming", "version": "", "exp": "", "snap": "", "content": "Lecterns can now be used to hold books."}
							Lecterns now emit a redstone pulse when a page is changed. {"type": "java upcoming", "version": "", "exp": "", "snap": "", "content": "Lecterns now emit a redstone pulse when a page is changed."}

Issues

Issues relating to "Lectern" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.

Gallery

• 

  One of the two first images of the lectern.

• 

  The second of the first images of the lectern.

• 

  The new lectern that was recently added.