Books can commonly be found whilst adventuring, and some of these may be useful or valuable. Though descriptions of a book’s contents are common, descriptions of the book’s physical appearance are less so. Here are ten descriptions for books that can be used.

1. Bound in black leather, with gilt diamonds inset in a rectangle around the front and back covers, with pure white, gilt-edged pages.
2. Elegantly carved wooden handles protrude from each end of this parchment scroll that has been tied shut with a red ribbon. The scroll itself is inside a wooden box whose cover lifts open; the cover’s hinges are brass and a small brass clasp keeps it shut.
3. Elephant ivory has been cut and shaped to make the binding, with jungle scenes scrimshawed into front, back and spine. The slightly yellowed pages are bound in place with cord.
4. Hammered bronze forms the book’s covers, with many small dimples covering the binding. A large brass locking mechanism keeps the book fastened shut.
5. Inside a shallow, rectangular wooden box made from oak and fastened with a tiny lock are loose sheets of vellum, which make up the book.
6. Oilskin has been used to protect this book, tightly wrapped and tied around it. The covers of the book are made from fragranced wood on which a geometric design has been added with marquetry.
7. Only the spine of the book is visible, for the rest is protected by a case made from thin wood. The case has been covered in a light green fabric and the plain, leatherbound book can be slid out of it.
8. Red silk covers the book’s thin wooden binding, with delicate embroideries of flowers in gold thread in each corner of the front and back covers.
9. The roughened book covers are made from grey sharkskin that has been slightly smoothed. The pages have been stitched in with shark gut and a flat piece of sharkskin cord fastens the book shut, held fast by a single shark’s tooth.
10. Wooden covers have been used as the book’s binding, with random patterns burnt into the wood with a hot iron.