| SPELLBOOK | COST | WGT | PROB | LVL | READ | MRKR | BONUS | APPEARANCE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| blank paper | 0 | 50 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | plain | |
| Book of the Dead | 3500 | 20 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | papyrus | |
| attack | COST | WGT | PROB | LVL | READ | MRKR | BONUS | APPEARANCE |
| force bolt | 100 | 50 | 35 | 1 | 2 | 10 | ||
| drain life | 200 | 50 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 20 | ||
| magic missile | 200 | 50 | 45 | 2 | 2 | 20 | Wiz | |
| cone of cold | 400 | 50 | 10 | 4 | 21 | 40 | Val | |
| fireball | 400 | 50 | 20 | 4 | 12 | 40 | ||
| finger of death | 700 | 50 | 5 | 7 | 80 | 70 | ||
| healing | COST | WGT | PROB | LVL | READ | MRKR | BONUS | APPEARANCE |
| healing | 100 | 50 | 40 | 1 | 2 | 10 | + | |
| cure blindness | 200 | 50 | 25 | 2 | 2 | 20 | + | |
| cure sickness | 300 | 50 | 32 | 3 | 6 | 30 | Hea+ | |
| extra healing | 300 | 50 | 27 | 3 | 10 | 30 | + | |
| stone to flesh | 300 | 50 | 15 | 3 | 2 | 30 | ||
| restore ability | 400 | 50 | 25 | 4 | 15 | 40 | Mon+ | |
| divination | COST | WGT | PROB | LVL | READ | MRKR | BONUS | APPEARANCE |
| detect monsters | 100 | 50 | 43 | 1 | 1 | 10 | ||
| light | 100 | 50 | 45 | 1 | 1 | 10 | ||
| detect food | 200 | 50 | 30 | 2 | 3 | 20 | ||
| clairvoyance | 300 | 50 | 15 | 3 | 6 | 30 | Sam | |
| detect unseen | 300 | 50 | 20 | 3 | 8 | 30 | ||
| identify | 300 | 50 | 20 | 3 | 12 | 30 | ||
| detect treasure | 400 | 50 | 20 | 4 | 15 | 40 | Rog | |
| magic mapping | 500 | 50 | 18 | 5 | 35 | 50 | Arc | |
| enchantment | COST | WGT | PROB | LVL | READ | MRKR | BONUS | APPEARANCE |
| sleep | 100 | 50 | 50 | 1 | 1 | 10 | ||
| confuse monster | 200 | 50 | 30 | 2 | 2 | 20 | ||
| slow monster | 200 | 50 | 30 | 2 | 2 | 20 | ||
| cause fear | 300 | 50 | 25 | 3 | 6 | 30 | ||
| charm monster | 300 | 50 | 20 | 3 | 6 | 30 | Tou | |
| clerical | COST | WGT | PROB | LVL | READ | MRKR | BONUS | APPEARANCE |
| protection | 100 | 50 | 18 | 1 | 3 | 10 | ||
| create monster | 200 | 50 | 35 | 2 | 3 | 20 | ||
| remove curse | 300 | 50 | 25 | 3 | 10 | 30 | Pri+ | |
| create familiar | 600 | 50 | 10 | 6 | 42 | 60 | ||
| turn undead | 600 | 50 | 16 | 6 | 48 | 60 | Kni | |
| escape | COST | WGT | PROB | LVL | READ | MRKR | BONUS | APPEARANCE |
| jumping | 100 | 50 | 20 | 1 | 3 | 10 | ||
| haste self | 300 | 50 | 33 | 3 | 8 | 30 | Bar | |
| invisibility | 400 | 50 | 25 | 4 | 15 | 40 | Ran | |
| levitation | 400 | 50 | 20 | 4 | 12 | 40 | ||
| teleport away | 600 | 50 | 15 | 6 | 36 | 60 | ||
| matter | COST | WGT | PROB | LVL | READ | MRKR | BONUS | APPEARANCE |
| knock | 100 | 50 | 35 | 1 | 1 | 10 | ||
| wizard lock | 200 | 50 | 30 | 2 | 3 | 20 | ||
| dig | 500 | 50 | 20 | 5 | 30 | 50 | Cav | |
| polymorph | 600 | 50 | 10 | 6 | 48 | 60 | ||
| cancellation | 700 | 50 | 15 | 7 | 64 | 70 |
Spellbooks are listed above by school, then increasing level. The COST field denotes the base price of each item. WGT specifies the weight (100 zorkmids weighs 1).
Spellbooks comprise 4% of all randomly-generated items in the main dungeon, 12% in containers, 0% on the Rogue level, and 0% in hell. PROB is the relative probability of each subtype. They appear 1/34 cursed, 16/17 uncursed, and 1/34 blessed. There is also a chance of obtaining a spellbook (one you don't know yet if possible) from praying when your god is pleased. A neutral Wizard will usually receive a blessed spellbook of finger of death when crowned.
The level (LVL) of a spell controls how difficult it is to cast and how much energy is required. Normal spellbooks cost 100 times their level. READ indicates the number of turns needed to successfully read a particular spellbook.
MRKR specifies the maximum number of magic marker charges needed to write a spellbook of that type, or zero if it cannot be written. You may note that this number is 10 times the spell level. The actual number of charges used will be a random amount from MRKR/2 to MRKR-1. Wizards have a 1/3 chance of writing an unknown spellbook, and all other classes have a 1/15 chance; your chance improves with your luck. You can only write on spellbooks of blank paper, which can be made by getting any spellbook wet, cancelling any spellbook (except spellbooks of cancellation), or reading a spellbook until it is too faint to be read anymore. The Book of the Dead can't be blanked by any means. You can select non-blank spellbooks to write on, but this will abuse your wisdom and you will be told, "That spellbook is not blank!"
Some spells provide a BONUS against spell failure. Each character class has a particular spell that they are good at casting (noted with class identifier). In addition, the spells marked with a plus (+) are emergency spells that grant an additional bonus. See the section on calculating spell failure below for details. Note that this column does NOT list which spellbooks a character may start with. Some types of spellbooks have the same APPEARANCE when unidentified. The appearance of the remaining spellbooks are are randomized from the following descriptions:
| parchment | vellum | ragged | dog eared | mottled |
| stained | cloth | leather | white | pink |
| red | orange | yellow | velvet | light green |
| dark green | turquoise | cyan | light blue | dark blue |
| indigo | magenta | purple | violet | tan |
| plaid | light brown | dark brown | gray | wrinkled |
| dusty | bronze | copper | silver | gold |
| glittering | shining | dull | thin | thick |