The OL Covers API provides a programmatic method to access the book covers and author photos available in the Open Library Covers Repository. All covers and author images are contributed by the Open Library community through an easy to use interface. Images can be uploaded at any resolution. There is a discussion on launchpad regarding possibly restricting upload size in the future.
BOOK COVERS
Book covers can be accessed using ISBN, OCLC, LCCN, OLID (Open Library ID) and ID (internal cover ID). The covers are available in 3 sizes S (suitable for use as a thumbnail on a results page on Open Library), M (suitable for display on a details page on Open Library) and L.
The URL pattern to access book covers is:
Where
key can be any one of ISBN, OLCC, LCCN, OLID and ID (case-insensitive)value is the value of the chosen keysize can be one of S, M and L for small, medium and large respectively.The following example returns small sized cover image for book with ISBN 0385472579.
The same cover can be accessed in multiple ways using different keys.
 http://covers.openlibrary.org/b/olid/OL7440033M-S.jpg  http://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/0385472579-S.jpg  http://covers.openlibrary.org/b/isbn/9780385472579-S.jpg |
 http://covers.openlibrary.org/b/lccn/93005405-S.jpg  http://covers.openlibrary.org/b/oclc/28419896-S.jpg  http://covers.openlibrary.org/b/id/240727-S.jpg |
AUTHOR PHOTOS
Author photos can be accessed only using OLID and ID. The URL Pattern for accessing author photos is:
For example the following is the photograph of Donald E. Knuth from the Open Library.
http://covers.openlibrary.org/a/olid/OL229501A-S.jpg
History
- Created October 27, 2008
- 34 revisions
| March 23, 2024 | Edited by raybb | update where to find small covers |
| January 27, 2022 | Edited by Drini | Fix formatting |
| January 27, 2022 | Edited by Mek | adding API example |
| October 20, 2021 | Edited by Drini | http -> https |
| October 27, 2008 | Created by Anand Chitipothu | covers api docs |