Lightweight Python client for Open Library API. Search 20M+ books, get covers, author info, and reading lists. No API key needed.
from openlibrary import OpenLibraryClient
client = OpenLibraryClient()
# Search books
results = client.search("python programming")
for book in results[:5]:
print(f"{book['title']} by {book['author']} ({book['year']})")
# Get book by ISBN
book = client.by_isbn("9780134685991")
print(f"{book['title']} — {book['pages']} pages")
# Get author
author = client.author("OL34184A") # Guido van Rossum
print(f"{author['name']} — {author['bio'][:100]}")
# Get cover image URL
cover = client.cover_url("9780134685991")
print(f"Cover: {cover}")- 20M+ books — comprehensive catalog from Internet Archive
- Search — by title, author, subject, ISBN
- Book details — pages, publishers, subjects, description
- Cover images — S/M/L sizes for any book
- Author profiles — bio, works, photos
- No API key — completely free and open
| Method | Description |
|---|---|
search(query, limit=10) |
Search books by keyword |
by_isbn(isbn) |
Get book by ISBN-10 or ISBN-13 |
book(olid) |
Get book by Open Library ID |
author(olid) |
Get author details |
author_works(olid, limit=10) |
Get author's works |
cover_url(isbn, size="M") |
Get cover image URL (S/M/L) |
subject(name, limit=10) |
Browse books by subject |
- Book recommendation engine
- Reading list tracker
- Library catalog app
- Book cover gallery
- ISBN lookup service
- wikipedia-python — Wikipedia articles
- awesome-no-auth-apis — 50+ free APIs
MIT
I build production-ready scrapers, APIs, and data tools — 78+ deployed on Apify, 270+ open-source repos.
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