History Main / BookSafe

Most often this is a gun. Often the book in question is the Good Book. Sometimes a character will go so far as to brandish the Bible while exclaiming "This will protect us!" or some similar line, only to open the Bible and reveal the weaponry within.

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

For extra concealment, the book itself can be effectively hidden by putting it [[NeedleInAStackOfNeedles among other books]]. Just make sure to remember ''which'' book and ''where'' it is in the library....

* ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'' started when Sakura opened a Book Safe: the hiding place of the the Clow Cards. This also released Kerberos, but he had fallen asleep and neglected his duties.
* A ''Manga/CaseClosed'' case revolves around drugs hidden not in a book, but a "fake book" that has four sealed edges.

* In ''ComicBook/JudgeColt'' #1, an outlaw attempts to escape from Colt's courtroom by grabbing a revolver hidden inside the hollowed out bible he was swearing on.

* ''Film/FiveCardStud'': When Nick Evers is holding [[spoiler: Reverend Johnathan Rudd]] at gunpoint, he starts reading from the Bible. Opening to a particular page, he pulls out a derringer he has hidden in the hollowed out pages and shoots Nick.

* One of Mrs. Mac's many, many booze stashes in ''Film/BlackChristmas1974'' is in a hollowed out book in the bookcase in the sororitory house lounge.

* A book of Shakespeare with a gun in it is hidden within a Library in ''Film/HardBoiled''. Alan walks into the library, gets the book and kills his target. Then he replaces the gun and book on the library shelf and walks out. This was apparently done so the hitman would never be armed if he was caught, but the police find the book because of the blood on it.

** ''Film/LiveAndLetDie'' features the classic gun in a Bible.

* ''Film/MissionImpossibleFallout'': Ethan receives a book from a courier which holds a film projector for his MissionBriefing.

* In ''Film/SherlockHolmesAndTheSecretWeapon'', Holmes conceals the parts of Dr. Tobel's bomb sight inside a pair of hollowed out books.

* ''The Bronze Horseman'' by Paullina Simons. The protagonists hide their stash of rubles and US dollars inside a book of Pushkin's poems. Disaster is barely averted when the family is burning all their books during the winter of the [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Siege of Leningrad]].

** An odd variant that might be a subversion, a parody, or completely unrelated occurred in ''Literature/{{Night Watch|Discworld}}'', when a young Havelock Vetinari hid all the extant copies of a rare book on concealment inside the cover of ''Annals of the Great Accountants, Volume 3''. He thought the author would have approved.

** In ''Literature/{{Goldfinger}}'', Bond hides his Walther PPK inside a hollowed out copy of ''The Bible Designed to Be Read as Literature''.

** When Mara Jade finds one in ''Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy'', it's because as the former Emperor's Hand she knows exactly where to look. Providing his secret agents with quick and covert access to a weapon in an emergency was precisely why the Emperor had this particular box placed in every Imperial library across the galaxy, so when Mara has her blaster confiscated and needs a new one, she goes to the nearest library.

* In the ''Literature/SergeStorms'' novel ''Stingray Shuffle'', a drug ring sells cocaine to its customers by running a book-shop and giving their drug customers hollowed-out paperbacks of a book entitled 'The Stingray Shuffle' (Chosen because it was an unpopular book that a normal customer wouldn't ask for) which had a gram of cocaine contained in the hollow. They sold so much drugs that way that they inadvertently triggered a revival of interest in the author, which caused a publicity event to be held at the shop, which caused normal people to accidentally buy paperbacks filled with drugs, which brought in the cops.
* In one early ''[[Literature/TheWitcher Witcher]]'' story Geralt, convalescing in the Nenneke's monastery, hides his booze behind the books in the library, because Nenneke disapproved of his drinking. Dandelion, visiting his friend there, promptly hangs lampshade on this trope.

* ''Series/TheColbertReport'': Colbert faked out the audience by revealing that he had a secret stash of Eggo waffles hidden inside of Sarah Palin's new book (the Palin story had to wait until the waffle shortage story was done).

* ''Series/{{CSI}}'': In "Skin in the Game", the ThemeSerialKiller leaves hollowed out bibles containing dowels at the scene of his crimes.

* ''Series/{{Gotham}}'':In "All Happy Families Are Alike", Bruce finds a remote control hidden inside his father's copy of Marcus Aurelius's ''Meditations''.

* On an episode of ''Series/TheIncredibleHulk1977'' a hunter who enjoys hunting HuntingTheMostDangerousGame has Dr. Banner trapped in a room; a clue leads him to a key hidden inside a hollowed out book on [[ChessMotifs chess, which was a major thematic element of the episode]].
* Once on ''Series/JustShootMe'', Nina says that the only book she owns is the hollowed out almanac from her trip to Colombia.

* In ''[[Series/TheOfficeUS The Office (US)]]'' season 2 episode "The Fire", the staff play the "desert island" game where you're asked what three books would you bring on a desert island. Dwight thinks outside the box and says he'd bring a hollowed out Physician's Desk Reference with survival gear inside and an unaltered copy of ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban,'' [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking in case he gets bored on the island.]]

* One episode of ''Series/SquareOneTV''[='=]s "Mathnet" segment concerned the theft of a carved crystal pigeon. The detectives tracked down the culprit, but discovered the pigeon had been stolen from him in turn. He had been storing it in a book, the pages cut into the exact shape of the statue.
* ''Series/StargateSG1'': Vala and Daniel find two ancient communication stones hidden in a hollowed-out "Book of Origin" (basically, the Ori version of the The Bible) when they are transported to the Ori galaxy.

* The video for ''Spaceship'' by Phase features a hammer (being used by oppressed office workers to dig an escape tunnel) hidden in a hollowed out book.

* ''ComicStrip/DickTracy'' has when Flattop is hiding out in a boarding house and decides keeping his loot on his person is too risky. So, when he sees an old thick photo album under a table that looks rarely used, he decides to cut out the inner pages and hide his money in it. As it happens, the kid blackmailing Flattop has drowned while ice skating on expensive skates bought with the shakedown money. Those skates led Tracy to the boarding house where he requests the boy's mother to get a photo for the newspaper and so they go to the photo album and the money is discovered. When Tracy asks where this money came from, the mother guesses it must be from her boarder and Tracy proceeds to Flattop's room while the crook is frantically trying to escape.

-->"Bastard! He's always one step ahead."

* In the Creator/TimDorsey novel ''Stingray Shuffle'', a drug ring sells cocaine to its customers by running a book-shop and giving their drug customers hollowed-out paperbacks of a book entitled 'The Stingray Shuffle' (Chosen because it was an unpopular book that a normal customer wouldn't ask for) which had a gram of cocaine contained in the hollow. They sold so much drugs that way that they inadvertently triggered a revival of interest in the author, which caused a publicity event to be held at the shop, which caused normal people to accidentally buy paperbacks filled with drugs, which brought in the cops.

This trope can be TruthInTelevision; check Website/ThatOtherWiki under "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concealing_objects_in_a_book Concealing objects in a book]]" for examples.