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Concealing objects in a book
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<h2 id="methods-of-concealment">Methods of concealment</h2> <h3>Hollow book safes</h3> <p>Prices can vary based on the cost of materials, additional features, and resources used to create the functionality and aesthetics of the hollow book. The main functional purpose aims for the containment of valuables, memorable items, or contraband within the cloak of an ordinary book. Thus maintaining privacy and security from unwanted intrusions and/or theft. </p><p>The scale of gadgetry used to create the seal of a hollow book's closing properties have ranged from simple to complex. Simple elastic bands, interlocking rope, and other common book closing techniques are used. Other times, hidden magnets do the task as well as the unusual use of complex locking mechanisms that require a lock and key combinations have also been used to keep a book closed. </p><p>Material choices used in the creation of the hollow book's body are usually actual books. However, other plastic, metal, cardboard, or paper materials have also been used to either simulate a real book, or to be used as extra features. </p><p>Many book safes are handmade. Structures made from real books are sealed and pressed before hollowing the inside pages with a sharp cutting utility. Sealing the back and allowing the front cover to act as a door that can be opened and shut. While other hollow books are made from cardboard cigar boxes, simulating a book on the outside. </p> <h2 id="choice-of-book">Choice of book</h2> <p>In fictional uses of book safes, the title or subject of the book can be symbolic or related to the nature of the object, e.g., hidden money in a copy of <i><a href="/facts/The_Wealth_of_Nations/KP6c1IjK">The Wealth of Nations</a></i>. There are a number of cases from films and television series where an item is hidden in the <a href="/facts/Bible/SqkRTKCh">Bible</a>. </p> <h2 id="actual-or-purported-examples">Actual or purported examples</h2> <h3>Objects</h3> <ul><li>Recording artist Ugly Husbands released a full-length cassette in a limited edition of 50, each in a different book-safe, on Roll Over Rover Records.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1"><sup>1</sup></a></li> <li>Hollowed-out books have been used to smuggle items into <a href="/facts/Prisons/UoT7KM4J">prisons</a>, such as tools to aid a <a href="/facts/Prison_escape/Wvh1uGCu">prison escape</a> or <a href="/facts/Contraband/AQ4ct28T">contraband</a> such as drugs or weapons.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a></li> <li>Small <a href="/facts/Bomb/GoH38wo1">bombs</a> can be hidden inside books, with a trigger that operates when book is opened. In 1980, <a href="/facts/United_Airlines/0tCTdbNh">United Airlines</a> president Percy Wood was injured by the explosion of a <a href="/facts/Pipe_bomb/2nkPEKTK">pipe bomb</a> hidden inside a book that he received in the mail.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a></li> <li>A man in <a href="/facts/Redding,_California/A9doT9aT">Redding, California</a> was arrested after taking photographs of a young girl with a camera hidden inside a book.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a></li> <li>In 2005, antiques thieves attempted to use a hollowed-out book to take a precious lead weight out of Israel.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a></li> <li>Guards at the Washington County Jail in <a href="/facts/Fayetteville,_Arkansas/dl1u0VbT">Fayetteville, Arkansas</a> seized a book that had been marked with what appeared to be stains from a leaking yellow felt pen, but tested positive for <a href="/facts/Methamphetamine/vS1jloMe">methamphetamine</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a></li> <li><a href="/facts/2016_Bitfinex_hack/bFJI7WTB">Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan</a> used two hollowed-out books to conceal items in their attempts to launder $4.5 billion in stolen cryptocurrency in 2019.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a></li></ul> <h2 id="fictional-occurrences">Fictional occurrences</h2> <h3>Television</h3> <ul><li>In the series <i><a href="/facts/Prison_Break/QYRnHfB7">Prison Break</a></i>, the main character, <a href="/facts/Michael_Scofield/TsHXxWYw">Michael Scofield</a>, hides a screw in a Bible, which he uses to break out of prison.</li> <li>In the <i><a href="/facts/Lost_(2004_TV_series)/1Ghog8Ye">Lost</a></i> episode "<a href="/facts/What_Kate_Did/Msp1zSqP">What Kate Did</a>", one of the characters finds some <a href="/facts/Photographic_film/37aFq6ls">film</a> in a Bible.</li> <li>In <i><a href="/facts/The_Simpsons/2nvy6mx6">The Simpsons</a></i> episode "<a href="/facts/Co-Dependents%27_Day/jaR0Ng2X">Co-Dependents' Day</a>", Homer conceals alcohol in a Bible whilst visiting Marge in rehab, having framed her in a drunk-driving incident to avoid another DUI. He later discovers, to his horror and after promising to cut down on his drinking, that his hollowed-out Bible has been replaced with an intact copy.</li> <li>In the <i><a href="/facts/House_(TV_series)/BBuQRdQ8">House</a></i> episode "Finding Judas", the title character conceals a bottle of <a href="/facts/Vicodin/dvnKDv5S">Vicodin</a> in a textbook on <a href="/facts/Lupus_erythematosus/MrAollWP">lupus</a>.</li> <li>In the <i><a href="/facts/King_of_the_Hill/QclGSBTm">King of the Hill</a></i> episode "Full Metal Dust Jacket," <a href="/facts/Dale_Gribble/2YQnX1V8">Dale Gribble</a> attempts to buy a book for the purpose of hiding a <a href="/facts/Firearm/GuHx4aGE">firearm</a> in it.</li> <li>In the series <i><a href="/facts/Pretty_Little_Liars/mp5FqIxn">Pretty Little Liars</a></i>, character, <a href="/facts/Spencer_Hastings/RKYILwxL">Spencer Hastings</a>, finds four small tapes concealed in a book.</li></ul> <h3>Film</h3> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Red_Grant/V1tBo23o">Red Grant</a>, one of the villains in the 1963 <a href="/facts/James_Bond/FQQ7pp1y">James Bond</a> film <i><a href="/facts/From_Russia_with_Love_(film)/44kmT7Qn">From Russia with Love</a></i> has a gun hidden in a copy of <i><a href="/facts/War_and_Peace/2I5cqEkE">War and Peace</a></i>.</li> <li>A nail trimmer is concealed in a Bible by inmate <a href="/facts/Frank_Morris_(prisoner)/d1Pzd8nX">Frank Morris</a> in the 1979 film <i><a href="/facts/Escape_from_Alcatraz_(film)/M9QNy2bU">Escape from Alcatraz</a></i>.</li> <li>In the <a href="/facts/BBC/qFateIz8">BBC</a> mini-series <i>Smiley's People</i>, <a href="/facts/George_Smiley/eLWjdjXq">George Smiley</a> hides a negative photograph of Kirov and Leipzig in an antique edition on loan from a friend upon Oliver Lacon's intrusion into his study. When Lacon's interest in the book becomes untenable, Smiley remarks that the edition is worth half the national budget and could he leave it alone—thus preserving the cover for the interleaved exposure.</li> <li>In the 1993 <a href="/facts/The_Walt_Disney_Company/R8kCbAVc">Disney</a> film <i><a href="/facts/The_Three_Musketeers_(1993_film)/tvxzGfJm">The Three Musketeers</a></i>, Aramis pulls a pistol from a hollowed out bible to save d'Artagnan from the executioners' axe.</li> <li>In the 1994 film <i><a href="/facts/The_Shawshank_Redemption/XyrAdF3I">The Shawshank Redemption</a></i>, one of the characters hides a <a href="/facts/Geologist%27s_hammer/7zPq7YAF">rock hammer</a> inside a Bible. The first page to be cut into bears the title "<a href="/facts/Book_of_Exodus/7Mse01aP">Exodus</a>". The line "Salvation lies within" is also repeated more than once.</li> <li>In the 1997 Disney film <i><a href="/facts/Jungle_2_Jungle/sCRmojAh">Jungle 2 Jungle</a></i>, an item is hidden in the <a href="/facts/Bible/SqkRTKCh">Bible</a>.</li> <li>In the 1997 film <i><a href="/facts/The_Game_(1997_film)/UVTwFQR9">The Game</a></i>, Michael Douglas takes a gun from a hollowed-out copy of <i><a href="/facts/To_Kill_a_Mockingbird/fFuj5rza">To Kill a Mockingbird</a></i>.</li> <li><a href="/facts/Lara_Croft/cGVFBUMq">Lara Croft</a> finds a hidden note from her father bound behind a book jacket in the movie <i><a href="/facts/Lara_Croft:_Tomb_Raider/YradGfUt">Lara Croft: Tomb Raider</a></i>.</li> <li>In the 1999 film <i><a href="/facts/The_Matrix/gbIXGnEK">The Matrix</a></i>, the central character <a href="/facts/Neo_(The_Matrix)/UEScag2P">Neo</a> hides several <a href="/facts/Computer_disk/hnsXRb5X">computer disks</a> in a copy of <a href="/facts/Jean_Baudrillard/zJKeaxEy">Jean Baudrillard</a>'s <i><a href="/facts/Simulacra_and_Simulation/6GpGePUn">Simulacra and Simulation</a></i>.</li> <li>In the 1999 <a href="/facts/Short_subject/PUW6IRku">short film</a> <i><a href="/facts/Me_and_the_Big_Guy/urS7zAMB">Me and the Big Guy</a></i>, Citizen 43275-B hides a handwritten 'Guide to Revolution', pen, and pair of glasses in a Re-Education Manual, having intentionally irritated <a href="/facts/Big_Brother_(Nineteen_Eighty-Four)/o6KfXBPp">Big Brother</a> to the extent that he no longer wants to surveil him in order to continue writing it in private.</li> <li>In the 2004 film <i><a href="/facts/Harold_%26_Kumar_Go_to_White_Castle/o6qeAvBb">Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle</a></i>, Kumar hides his stash of marijuana in his medical book.</li> <li>In the 2004 film <i><a href="/facts/National_Treasure_(film)/GoSdBR0F">National Treasure</a></i>, Ben's father keeps money in a copy of <a href="/facts/Thomas_Paine/mxG3kEm9">Thomas Paine's</a> <i><a href="/facts/Common_Sense_(pamphlet)/T19gstm7">Common Sense</a></i>.</li> <li>In the 2006 film <i><a href="/facts/V_for_Vendetta_(film)/AkGKJgXr">V for Vendetta</a></i>, Bishop Anthony James Lilliman hides a gun in a copy of the Bible.</li> <li>In the 2007 film <i><a href="/facts/The_Invisible_(2007_film)/V8XIEEvY">The Invisible</a></i>, the protagonist hides money he has earned selling essays in a hollowed-out copy of <i><a href="/facts/Catch-22/neVb9EuE">Catch-22</a></i>.</li> <li>In the 2019 film <i><a href="/facts/El_Camino:_A_Breaking_Bad_Movie/gwpAtXVx">El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie</a></i>, Todd Alquist initially hid money he earned from manufacturing meth in hollowed-out encyclopaedias originally given to him by his grandmother. After his cleaner uncovered this system, prompting Alquist to kill her and enlist an enslaved Jesse Pinkman in the disposing of her body, he instead hid his money in the door of his fridge.</li></ul> <h3>Fiction writing</h3> <ul><li><i><a href="/facts/Explorers_on_the_Moon/Hg97VyPE">Explorers on the Moon</a></i>, one of <i><a href="/facts/The_Adventures_of_Tintin/tUyWnLfH">The Adventures of Tintin</a></i>, <a href="/facts/Explorers_on_the_Moon/Hg97VyPE">features</a> a book hollowed out to hold alcohol.</li> <li>In <a href="/facts/Robert_Ludlum/DRcAVLFk">Robert Ludlum</a>'s <a href="/facts/Posthumous_work/uBcngGP3">posthumously</a> published book <i><a href="/facts/The_Janson_Directive/XWRE7QCK">The Janson Directive</a></i>, Paul Janson's old mentor Angus Fielding, don of <a href="/facts/Trinity_College,_Cambridge/uI0I61Sb">Trinity College</a>, pulls a .22 Webley <a href="/facts/Pistol/pQgRhGBM">Pistol</a> out of the 1759 edition of <a href="/facts/Samuel_Johnson/yl89qQ3t">Samuel Johnson</a>'s <i><a href="/facts/A_Dictionary_of_the_English_Language/Df0XgWuM">A Dictionary of the English Language</a> A-G</i> (the A standing for ammunition and the G for guns).</li> <li>In the novel <i><a href="/facts/Interstellar_Pig/wnQ7Erxz">Interstellar Pig</a></i>, Barney hides the Piggy in a hollowed-out high-school yearbook.</li> <li>In the manga series <i><a href="/facts/Cardcaptor_Sakura/eq3Sx6M3">Cardcaptor Sakura</a></i> and <i><a href="/facts/Cardcaptor_Sakura:_Clear_Card/MJ3DrYFq">Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card</a></i>, the Clow/Sakura Book is a book safe containing the magical cards of <a href="/facts/Clow_Reed/396sRCDE">Clow Reed</a> and <a href="/facts/Sakura_Kinomoto/6bCTcEK0">Sakura Kinomoto</a>.</li> <li>In the novel <i><a href="/facts/John_Dies_at_the_End/0soMWCQC">John Dies at the End</a></i>, David keeps a gun in a hollowed-out copy of the <a href="/facts/Qur%27an/39rkStko">Qur'an</a>.</li> <li>In the novel <i><a href="/facts/The_Testaments/4y46Y682">The Testaments</a></i> by <a href="/facts/Margaret_Atwood/jUdYMItN">Margaret Atwood</a>, Aunt Lydia uses a hollowed-out copy of <a href="/facts/Cardinal_John_Henry_Newman/gqGbkUEG">Cardinal John Henry Newman</a>'s <i><a href="/facts/Apologia_Pro_Vita_Sua/sxmBQmu0">Apologia Pro Vita Sua</a></i> to hide an illicit manuscript – later to be known as the <i>Ardua Hall Holograph</i> – in which she details her induction as a Founding Aunt of Gilead, the endemic corruption and hypocrisy of the Commanders of the Faith, and her covert efforts to deliver justice within the Gileadian system and to assist the Mayday Resistance.</li></ul> <h3>Games</h3> <ul><li>In the 2001 <a href="/facts/Adventure_game/jXMz5Ds8">adventure game</a> <i><a href="/facts/Alfred_Hitchcock_Presents:_The_Final_Cut/S9Ttvhqc">Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Final Cut</a></i>, the player must cut open a book with a knife to discover a key. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20021118233550/http://www.loadedinc.com/review.php?temp_view=review.php&game=Alfred+Hitchcock%5c's+The+Final+Cut&id=76">[1]</a>.</li> <li>In the horror game <i><a href="/facts/Resident_Evil_(1996_video_game)/Qo31rbtf">Resident Evil</a></i>, players can obtain a book with a medal hidden inside.</li> <li>In the video game <i><a href="/facts/Hitman:_Blood_Money/1j25hkoD">Hitman: Blood Money</a></i>, the player can conceal a bomb in a hollow bible.</li> <li>In the Nintendo DS game <i><a href="/facts/Another_Code/HYVQ2ssA">Another Code</a></i>, a key is found inside a hollow book.</li> <li>In the PC and <a href="/facts/NES/YD59GCQQ">NES</a> game <i><a href="/facts/Shadowgate/uoBAKBE0">Shadowgate</a></i>, a key is found in a hollowed out book. The player must learn to open the book without removing it, because by moving the book, a switch is set off that drops the player into a pit.</li></ul> <h2 id="related-concepts">Related concepts</h2> <ul><li>Often in popular fiction, a switch to open a <a href="/facts/Secret_passage/YRCjrFf7">secret passage</a> is disguised as a book on a <a href="/facts/Bookshelf/oQdFvlJ4">bookshelf</a>.</li></ul> <h2 id="see-also">See also</h2> <ul> <li>Books portal</li></ul> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Altered_book/QYJGrhbj">Altered book</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Art_diary/RzRfkyfr">Art diary</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Artist%27s_book/AX0x9dyk">Artist's book</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Miniature_book/xt8eLjzd">Miniature book</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Origami/anFEky9j">Origami</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Pamphlet/DCvTBN5G">Pamphlet</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Paper_craft/DtdnIEAR">Paper craft</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Paper_fortune_teller/Wm0bRVzT">Paper fortune teller</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Paper_plane/0elXzyYx">Paper plane</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Pop-up_book/FvfwVPWK">Pop-up book</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Visual_poetry/8XhvLmKP">Visual poetry</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Volvelle/RGoKkoDs">Volvelle</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Zine/Cm5JnwLp">Zine</a></li></ul> <h2 id="external-links">External links</h2> <ul><li>"<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/920046.stm">Kosovo journalist gunned down</a>" at <a href="/facts/BBC_News/oGAe2H8E">BBC News</a>, 11 September 2000, showing a picture of a gun hidden inside a book</li> <li>"<a href="https://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Hollow-Book">How To Make a Secret Hollow Book</a>", 14 December 2006</li></ul> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>"税理士に向いている人とは、どんな人なのか". Archived from the original on 9 May 2019. Retrieved 14 November 2019. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190509182212/http://rolloverrover.org/" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20190509182212/http://rolloverrover.org/</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>Woman sentenced for mailing meth in hollowed-out book WQAD.com <a href="http://www.wqad.com/Global/story.asp?S=3627486" target="_blank">http://www.wqad.com/Global/story.asp?S=3627486</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>* Bomb #4 Victim: Percy Wood Lake Forest, Ill. (6/10/80) www.unabombertrial.com <a href="http://www.unabombertrial.com/documents/bomb_4.html" target="_blank">http://www.unabombertrial.com/documents/bomb_4.html</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>Man accused of taking photos as girl shopped Archived 3 July 2006 at the Wayback Machine By Constance Dillon Redding.com/Record Searchlight Newspaper <a href="http://www.redding.com/redd/nw_local/article/0,2232,REDD_17533_4804507,00.html" target="_blank">http://www.redding.com/redd/nw_local/article/0,2232,REDD_17533_4804507,00.html</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:5"><p>A Just Weight Israel Today <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20070708202401/http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=136&view=item&idx=587" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20070708202401/http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=136&view=item&idx=587</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:6"><p>Paperback Novel Laced With Methamphetamine at the Washington County Jail, Fayetteville, Arkansas Archived 12 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine DEA Microgram <a href="https://www.usdoj.gov/dea/programs/forensicsci/microgram/mg0307/mg0307.html" target="_blank">https://www.usdoj.gov/dea/programs/forensicsci/microgram/mg0307/mg0307.html</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:7"><p>Farivar, Cyrus; Jeans, David (10 February 2022). "Hollowed-Out Books, Fake Passports And Burner Phones: What Led To The Feds' Raid On The Crypto Couple". Forbes. <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/cyrusfarivar/2022/02/10/heather-morgan-ilya-lichtenstein-cat-bitcoin-raid/?sh=654d7423405a" target="_blank">https://www.forbes.com/sites/cyrusfarivar/2022/02/10/heather-morgan-ilya-lichtenstein-cat-bitcoin-raid/?sh=654d7423405a</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>