Even with no resource packs enabled, all enchanted books are using their default look. I thought it could be a mod incompatibility, though considering my mods and how many there are, I'm not sure which could be the culprit

NEB 1.7.0
Forge 40.1.0
MC 1.18.2
latest.log

It probably is a mod incompatibility. This isn't really something we can help with with such a vague description.

I'll attach the full mod list for my modpack if it's any help - are there any known mod incompatibilities?
list.txt

turns out it was a video setting. not sure if it was a vanilla one, or an optifine one but I narrowed it down that far.

seemed to be also affecting other visual mods like better foliage, but all works fine now that I reset the settings to default