Concealing something in a book

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A hollowed out book, with bottle caps for scale.

There are many occurrences, both real and in popular culture, of concealing something in a book. Items can be concealed in books in a number of ways. Small items such as a photograph or a note can be hidden in between the pages of the book. Thicker items can be hidden by removing the interior portion of some or all of the pages, creating a book safe or hollowed-out book. Book safes are easy for its owner to recognise, but they do not stand out to a thief or other intruder.

Another type of concealment is the hiding of messages in the text or on a book's pages by printing in code – a form of steganography. For example, letters could be underlined on sequential pages, with the letters spelling out a message or code. There are a number of actual and fictional examples of items or messages have being concealed in a book.

Books are used as a concealment device in part because they are readily available in many settings.

1 Methods of concealment
- 1.1 Book safes
- 1.2 Steganography and hidden messages
2 Choice of book
3 Actual or purported examples
- 3.1 Objects
4 Fictional occurrences
5 Related concepts
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Methods of concealment

[edit] Book safes

Book safes use the principle of "security through obscurity". Some security experts argue that this type of security measure is vulnerable. An 1800s doctrine on security by Kerckhoffs stated that the security of a system should depend on its key, not on its design remaining obscure.

Some retailers sell hollowed-out books for valuables, as a way of concealing these items from a burglar. These hollowed-out books can also be used to hide illegal or contraband items. Sometimes these items are real books that have been cut, but they may instead be made from other materials, such as plastic or metal.

[edit] Steganography and hidden messages

Messages can be hidden within a book using steganographic techniques. Invisible ink may be used to write words and sentences in the book, or by underlining certain words or letters a message can be crafted.

The author of a book may write codes by carefully chosing the wording. There have been many claims of a bible code in which hidden messages can be found by manipulating the text. The 1997 book The Bible Code by Michael Drosnin is one of the most famous examples. On the other hand, it has been claimed that you can find "hidden messages" in any book using this method.^[1]

Arrange the letters from Genesis 26:5–10 in a 33 column grid and you get a word search with "Bible" and "code". A myriad of other arrangements can yield other words.

[edit] Choice of book

In fictional uses of book safes, the title or subject of the book can be symbolic or related to the nature of the object. There are a number of cases from films and television series where an item is hidden in the Bible.

[edit] Actual or purported examples

[edit] Objects

Hollowed-out books have been used to smuggle items into prisons, such as tools to aid a prison escape or contraband or illegal items such as drugs or weapons.^[2]
Small bombs can be hidden inside books, with a trigger that operates when book is opened. In 1980, United Airlines president Percy Wood was injured by the explosion of a pipe bomb hidden inside a book that he received in the mail.^[3]
A man in Redding, California was arrested after taking photographs of a young girl with a camera hidden inside a book.^[4] In public, the book is an object that looks innocent and would not be expected to be used in such a way.
In 2005, antiques thieves attempted to use a hollowed-out book to take a precious lead weight out of Israel.^[5]

[edit] Fictional occurrences

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

[edit] Television

In the series Prison Break, the main character, Michael Scofield, hides a screw in a Bible, which he uses to break out of prison.
In the 2005 episode of the television series Lost "What Kate Did" one of the characters finds some film in a bible.
An episode of The Simpsons features a bible hollowed out to hold alcohol.

[edit] Film

Red Grant, one of the villains in the 1963 James Bond film From Russia with Love has a gun hidden in a copy of War and Peace.
In the 1993 Disney film The Three Musketeers, Aramis pulls a pistol from a hollowed out bible to save d'Artagnan from the executioners' axe.
The 1994 film The Shawshank Redemption sees one of the characters hide a rock hammer inside a Bible. The first page to be cut into bears the title "Exodus".
In the 1997 Disney film Jungle 2 Jungle, an item is hidden in the Bible.
In the 1997 film "The Game", Michael Douglas takes out a gun from a hollowed-out "To Kill a Mockingbird" book.
Lara Croft finds a hidden note from her father bound behind a book jacket in the movie Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.
In the 1999 film The Matrix, a central character Neo hides several computer disks in a copy of Jean Baudrillard's Simulacra and Simulation.
In the 2006 film V for Vendetta, Bishop Anthony James Lilliman hides a gun in a copy of the Bible.

[edit] Fiction writing

Explorers on the Moon, one of The Adventures of Tintin, features a book hollowed out to hold alcohol.
In Robert Ludlum's posthumously published book The Janson Directive, Paul Janson's old mentor Angus Feilding don of Trinity College pulls a .22 Webley Pistol out of the 1759 edition of Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language A-G (the A standing for ammunition and the G for guns).
In the novel Interstellar Pig, Barney hides the Piggy in a hollowed-out high-school yearbook.

[edit] Games

In the 2001 adventure game Alfred Hitchcock Presents The Final Cut the player must cut open a book with a knife to discover a key. [1].
In the the horror game Resident Evil, players can obtain a book with a medal hidden inside.
In the video game Hitman: Blood Money, the player can conceal a bomb in a hollow bible.