An API to retrieve bookcovers from the internet.

This is a simple API that fetches book cover images from Goodreads. You can search for covers using either a book's title and author, or its ISBN number. It returns a direct URL to the cover image that you can use in your applications.

Documentation

GET /bookcover

Search for a book cover by title/author or by ISBN-13.

Query Parameters:

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
book_title	string	Yes*	The title of the book
author_name	string	Yes*	The name of the book's author
isbn	string	Yes*	The ISBN-13 number of the book
image_size	string	No	Size of the cover image: small, medium, large (default)

* Provide either book_title + author_name, or isbn.

Example Requests:

# Search by title and author
curl -X GET "https://bookcover.longitood.com/bookcover?book_title=The+Pale+Blue+Dot&author_name=Carl+Sagan"

# Search by title and author with image size
curl -X GET "https://bookcover.longitood.com/bookcover?book_title=The+Pale+Blue+Dot&author_name=Carl+Sagan&image_size=small"

# Search by ISBN
curl -X GET "https://bookcover.longitood.com/bookcover?isbn=978-0345376596"

Example Response:

{
  "url": "https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388620656i/55030.jpg"
}

GET /bookcover/:isbn (deprecated)

The path-based ISBN lookup is still supported for backwards compatibility.

Example Request:

curl -X GET "https://bookcover.longitood.com/bookcover/978-0345376596"

How It Works

The API fetches book cover images from Goodreads using two different approaches:

1. Search by Title and Author

   • Takes the book title and author name as input
   • Searches Goodreads and finds the matching book
   • Extracts the high-quality cover image URL
   • Caches the result for faster future requests

2. Search by ISBN-13

   • Accepts a 13-digit ISBN number
   • Performs a direct lookup on Goodreads
   • Returns the book cover URL
   • Also caches successful results

The API provides clear error messages in JSON format:

• 400 Bad Request: Missing parameters or invalid ISBN
• 404 Not Found: No matching book cover found
• 429 Too Many Requests: Rate limiting quotas were met
• All responses include appropriate CORS headers