Search authors (name, birth date, top work, number of works)

Searches authors by name and returns their birth/death dates, top work and number of works.

Request

GEThttps://books.p.apihiver.com/v1/authors?q=tolkien

String. Search text.

limit

Number. Maximum number of results (1–50, default 10).

Language

Client

1curl --request GET \
2  --url 'https://books.p.apihiver.com/v1/authors?q=tolkien&limit=%7Blimit%7D' \
3  --header 'Accept: application/json' \
4  --header 'X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY'

Searches authors by name and returns their birth/death dates, top work and number of works. This endpoint is part of the Books API: Search millions of books by title, author or subject, look up any ISBN, and find authors — powered by Open Library.

Search authors (name, birth date, top work, number of works): example requests in every language

GET /v1/authors in Shell (cURL)

curl --request GET \
  --url 'https://books.p.apihiver.com/v1/authors?q=tolkien&limit=%7Blimit%7D' \
  --header 'Accept: application/json' \
  --header 'X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY'

GET /v1/authors in Shell (HTTPie)

http GET 'https://books.p.apihiver.com/v1/authors?q=tolkien&limit=%7Blimit%7D' \
  Accept:application/json \
  X-API-Key:YOUR_API_KEY

GET /v1/authors in Shell (Wget)

wget --quiet \
  --method GET \
  --header 'Accept: application/json' \
  --header 'X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY' \
  --output-document \
  - 'https://books.p.apihiver.com/v1/authors?q=tolkien&limit=%7Blimit%7D'

GET /v1/authors in Node.js (http)

const http = require('https');

const options = {
  method: 'GET',
  hostname: 'books.p.apihiver.com',
  port: null,
  path: '/v1/authors?q=tolkien&limit=%7Blimit%7D',
  headers: {
    Accept: 'application/json',
    'X-API-Key': 'YOUR_API_KEY'
  }
};

const req = http.request(options, function (res) {
  const chunks = [];

  res.on('data', function (chunk) {
    chunks.push(chunk);
  });

  res.on('end', function () {
    const body = Buffer.concat(chunks);
    console.log(body.toString());
  });
});

req.end();

GET /v1/authors in Node.js (Request)

const request = require('request');

const options = {
  method: 'GET',
  url: 'https://books.p.apihiver.com/v1/authors',
  qs: {q: 'tolkien', limit: '{limit}'},
  headers: {Accept: 'application/json', 'X-API-Key': 'YOUR_API_KEY'}
};

request(options, function (error, response, body) {
  if (error) throw new Error(error);

  console.log(body);
});

GET /v1/authors in Node.js (Unirest)

const unirest = require('unirest');

const req = unirest('GET', 'https://books.p.apihiver.com/v1/authors');

req.query({
  q: 'tolkien',
  limit: '{limit}'
});

req.headers({
  Accept: 'application/json',
  'X-API-Key': 'YOUR_API_KEY'
});

req.end(function (res) {
  if (res.error) throw new Error(res.error);

  console.log(res.body);
});

GET /v1/authors in Node.js (Axios)

const axios = require('axios').default;

const options = {
  method: 'GET',
  url: 'https://books.p.apihiver.com/v1/authors',
  params: {q: 'tolkien', limit: '{limit}'},
  headers: {Accept: 'application/json', 'X-API-Key': 'YOUR_API_KEY'}
};

try {
  const { data } = await axios.request(options);
  console.log(data);
} catch (error) {
  console.error(error);
}

GET /v1/authors in Node.js (Fetch)

const fetch = require('node-fetch');

const url = 'https://books.p.apihiver.com/v1/authors?q=tolkien&limit=%7Blimit%7D';
const options = {
  method: 'GET',
  headers: {Accept: 'application/json', 'X-API-Key': 'YOUR_API_KEY'}
};

try {
  const response = await fetch(url, options);
  const data = await response.json();
  console.log(data);
} catch (error) {
  console.error(error);
}

GET /v1/authors in JavaScript (XMLHttpRequest)

const data = null;

const xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
xhr.withCredentials = true;

xhr.addEventListener('readystatechange', function () {
  if (this.readyState === this.DONE) {
    console.log(this.responseText);
  }
});

xhr.open('GET', 'https://books.p.apihiver.com/v1/authors?q=tolkien&limit=%7Blimit%7D');
xhr.setRequestHeader('Accept', 'application/json');
xhr.setRequestHeader('X-API-Key', 'YOUR_API_KEY');

xhr.send(data);

GET /v1/authors in JavaScript (Axios)

import axios from 'axios';

const options = {
  method: 'GET',
  url: 'https://books.p.apihiver.com/v1/authors',
  params: {q: 'tolkien', limit: '{limit}'},
  headers: {Accept: 'application/json', 'X-API-Key': 'YOUR_API_KEY'}
};

try {
  const { data } = await axios.request(options);
  console.log(data);
} catch (error) {
  console.error(error);
}

GET /v1/authors in JavaScript (Fetch)

const url = 'https://books.p.apihiver.com/v1/authors?q=tolkien&limit=%7Blimit%7D';
const options = {
  method: 'GET',
  headers: {Accept: 'application/json', 'X-API-Key': 'YOUR_API_KEY'}
};

try {
  const response = await fetch(url, options);
  const data = await response.json();
  console.log(data);
} catch (error) {
  console.error(error);
}

GET /v1/authors in JavaScript (jQuery)

const settings = {
  async: true,
  crossDomain: true,
  url: 'https://books.p.apihiver.com/v1/authors?q=tolkien&limit=%7Blimit%7D',
  method: 'GET',
  headers: {
    Accept: 'application/json',
    'X-API-Key': 'YOUR_API_KEY'
  }
};

$.ajax(settings).done(function (response) {
  console.log(response);
});

GET /v1/authors in Python (http.client)

import http.client

conn = http.client.HTTPSConnection("books.p.apihiver.com")

headers = {
    'Accept': "application/json",
    'X-API-Key': "YOUR_API_KEY"
}

conn.request("GET", "/v1/authors?q=tolkien&limit=%7Blimit%7D", headers=headers)

res = conn.getresponse()
data = res.read()

print(data.decode("utf-8"))

GET /v1/authors in Python (Requests)

import requests

url = "https://books.p.apihiver.com/v1/authors"

querystring = {"q":"tolkien","limit":"{limit}"}

headers = {
    "Accept": "application/json",
    "X-API-Key": "YOUR_API_KEY"
}

response = requests.get(url, headers=headers, params=querystring)

print(response.json())

GET /v1/authors in PHP (cURL)

<?php

$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, [
  CURLOPT_URL => "https://books.p.apihiver.com/v1/authors?q=tolkien&limit=%7Blimit%7D",
  CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
  CURLOPT_ENCODING => "",
  CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
  CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 30,
  CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION => CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1,
  CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => "GET",
  CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => [
    "Accept: application/json",
    "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY"
  ],
]);

$response = curl_exec($curl);
$err = curl_error($curl);

curl_close($curl);

if ($err) {
  echo "cURL Error #:" . $err;
} else {
  echo $response;
}

GET /v1/authors in PHP (Guzzle)

<?php

$client = new \GuzzleHttp\Client();

$response = $client->request('GET', 'https://books.p.apihiver.com/v1/authors?q=tolkien&limit=%7Blimit%7D', [
  'headers' => [
    'Accept' => 'application/json',
    'X-API-Key' => 'YOUR_API_KEY',
  ],
]);

echo $response->getBody();

GET /v1/authors in PHP (PECL HTTP v1)

<?php

$request = new HttpRequest();
$request->setUrl('https://books.p.apihiver.com/v1/authors');
$request->setMethod(HTTP_METH_GET);

$request->setQueryData([
  'q' => 'tolkien',
  'limit' => '{limit}'
]);

$request->setHeaders([
  'Accept' => 'application/json',
  'X-API-Key' => 'YOUR_API_KEY'
]);

try {
  $response = $request->send();

  echo $response->getBody();
} catch (HttpException $ex) {
  echo $ex;
}

GET /v1/authors in PHP (PECL HTTP v2)

<?php

$client = new http\Client;
$request = new http\Client\Request;

$request->setRequestUrl('https://books.p.apihiver.com/v1/authors');
$request->setRequestMethod('GET');
$request->setQuery(new http\QueryString([
  'q' => 'tolkien',
  'limit' => '{limit}'
]));

$request->setHeaders([
  'Accept' => 'application/json',
  'X-API-Key' => 'YOUR_API_KEY'
]);

$client->enqueue($request)->send();
$response = $client->getResponse();

echo $response->getBody();

GET /v1/authors in Java (AsyncHttp)

AsyncHttpClient client = new DefaultAsyncHttpClient();
client.prepare("GET", "https://books.p.apihiver.com/v1/authors?q=tolkien&limit=%7Blimit%7D")
  .setHeader("Accept", "application/json")
  .setHeader("X-API-Key", "YOUR_API_KEY")
  .execute()
  .toCompletableFuture()
  .thenAccept(System.out::println)
  .join();

client.close();

GET /v1/authors in Java (java.net.http)

HttpRequest request = HttpRequest.newBuilder()
    .uri(URI.create("https://books.p.apihiver.com/v1/authors?q=tolkien&limit=%7Blimit%7D"))
    .header("Accept", "application/json")
    .header("X-API-Key", "YOUR_API_KEY")
    .method("GET", HttpRequest.BodyPublishers.noBody())
    .build();
HttpResponse<String> response = HttpClient.newHttpClient().send(request, HttpResponse.BodyHandlers.ofString());
System.out.println(response.body());

GET /v1/authors in Java (OkHttp)

OkHttpClient client = new OkHttpClient();

Request request = new Request.Builder()
  .url("https://books.p.apihiver.com/v1/authors?q=tolkien&limit=%7Blimit%7D")
  .get()
  .addHeader("Accept", "application/json")
  .addHeader("X-API-Key", "YOUR_API_KEY")
  .build();

Response response = client.newCall(request).execute();

GET /v1/authors in Java (Unirest)

HttpResponse<String> response = Unirest.get("https://books.p.apihiver.com/v1/authors?q=tolkien&limit=%7Blimit%7D")
  .header("Accept", "application/json")
  .header("X-API-Key", "YOUR_API_KEY")
  .asString();

GET /v1/authors in C# (HttpClient)

using System.Net.Http.Headers;
var client = new HttpClient();
var request = new HttpRequestMessage
{
    Method = HttpMethod.Get,
    RequestUri = new Uri("https://books.p.apihiver.com/v1/authors?q=tolkien&limit=%7Blimit%7D"),
    Headers =
    {
        { "Accept", "application/json" },
        { "X-API-Key", "YOUR_API_KEY" },
    },
};
using (var response = await client.SendAsync(request))
{
    response.EnsureSuccessStatusCode();
    var body = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
    Console.WriteLine(body);
}

GET /v1/authors in C# (RestSharp)

var client = new RestClient("https://books.p.apihiver.com/v1/authors?q=tolkien&limit=%7Blimit%7D");
var request = new RestRequest("", Method.Get);
request.AddHeader("Accept", "application/json");
request.AddHeader("X-API-Key", "YOUR_API_KEY");
var response = client.Execute(request);

GET /v1/authors in Go (NewRequest)

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"net/http"
	"io"
)

func main() {

	url := "https://books.p.apihiver.com/v1/authors?q=tolkien&limit=%7Blimit%7D"

	req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", url, nil)

	req.Header.Add("Accept", "application/json")
	req.Header.Add("X-API-Key", "YOUR_API_KEY")

	res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)

	defer res.Body.Close()
	body, _ := io.ReadAll(res.Body)

	fmt.Println(res)
	fmt.Println(string(body))

}

GET /v1/authors in Ruby (net::http)

require 'uri'
require 'net/http'

url = URI("https://books.p.apihiver.com/v1/authors?q=tolkien&limit=%7Blimit%7D")

http = Net::HTTP.new(url.host, url.port)
http.use_ssl = true

request = Net::HTTP::Get.new(url)
request["Accept"] = 'application/json'
request["X-API-Key"] = 'YOUR_API_KEY'

response = http.request(request)
puts response.read_body

GET /v1/authors in Swift (NSURLSession)

import Foundation

let headers = [
  "Accept": "application/json",
  "X-API-Key": "YOUR_API_KEY"
]

let request = NSMutableURLRequest(url: NSURL(string: "https://books.p.apihiver.com/v1/authors?q=tolkien&limit=%7Blimit%7D")! as URL,
                                        cachePolicy: .useProtocolCachePolicy,
                                    timeoutInterval: 10.0)
request.httpMethod = "GET"
request.allHTTPHeaderFields = headers

let session = URLSession.shared
let dataTask = session.dataTask(with: request as URLRequest, completionHandler: { (data, response, error) -> Void in
  if (error != nil) {
    print(error as Any)
  } else {
    let httpResponse = response as? HTTPURLResponse
    print(httpResponse)
  }
})

dataTask.resume()

GET /v1/authors in Objective-C (NSURLSession)

#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>

NSDictionary *headers = @{ @"Accept": @"application/json",
                           @"X-API-Key": @"YOUR_API_KEY" };

NSMutableURLRequest *request = [NSMutableURLRequest requestWithURL:[NSURL URLWithString:@"https://books.p.apihiver.com/v1/authors?q=tolkien&limit=%7Blimit%7D"]
                                                       cachePolicy:NSURLRequestUseProtocolCachePolicy
                                                   timeoutInterval:10.0];
[request setHTTPMethod:@"GET"];
[request setAllHTTPHeaderFields:headers];

NSURLSession *session = [NSURLSession sharedSession];
NSURLSessionDataTask *dataTask = [session dataTaskWithRequest:request
                                            completionHandler:^(NSData *data, NSURLResponse *response, NSError *error) {
                                                if (error) {
                                                    NSLog(@"%@", error);
                                                } else {
                                                    NSHTTPURLResponse *httpResponse = (NSHTTPURLResponse *) response;
                                                    NSLog(@"%@", httpResponse);
                                                }
                                            }];
[dataTask resume];

GET /v1/authors in Kotlin (OkHttp)

val client = OkHttpClient()

val request = Request.Builder()
  .url("https://books.p.apihiver.com/v1/authors?q=tolkien&limit=%7Blimit%7D")
  .get()
  .addHeader("Accept", "application/json")
  .addHeader("X-API-Key", "YOUR_API_KEY")
  .build()

val response = client.newCall(request).execute()

GET /v1/authors in C (libcurl)

CURL *hnd = curl_easy_init();

curl_easy_setopt(hnd, CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST, "GET");
curl_easy_setopt(hnd, CURLOPT_URL, "https://books.p.apihiver.com/v1/authors?q=tolkien&limit=%7Blimit%7D");

struct curl_slist *headers = NULL;
headers = curl_slist_append(headers, "Accept: application/json");
headers = curl_slist_append(headers, "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY");
curl_easy_setopt(hnd, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, headers);

CURLcode ret = curl_easy_perform(hnd);

GET /v1/authors in Clojure (clj-http)

(require '[clj-http.client :as client])

(client/get "https://books.p.apihiver.com/v1/authors" {:headers {:X-API-Key "YOUR_API_KEY"}
                                                       :query-params {:q "tolkien"
                                                                      :limit "{limit}"}
                                                       :accept :json})

GET /v1/authors in OCaml (CoHTTP)

open Cohttp_lwt_unix
open Cohttp
open Lwt

let uri = Uri.of_string "https://books.p.apihiver.com/v1/authors?q=tolkien&limit=%7Blimit%7D" in
let headers = Header.add_list (Header.init ()) [
  ("Accept", "application/json");
  ("X-API-Key", "YOUR_API_KEY");
] in

Client.call ~headers `GET uri
>>= fun (res, body_stream) ->
  (* Do stuff with the result *)

GET /v1/authors in R (httr)

library(httr)

url <- "https://books.p.apihiver.com/v1/authors"

queryString <- list(
  q = "tolkien",
  limit = "{limit}"
)

response <- VERB("GET", url, query = queryString, add_headers('X-API-Key' = 'YOUR_API_KEY'), content_type(""), accept("application/json"))

content(response, "text")

GET /v1/authors in PowerShell (Invoke-WebRequest)

$headers=@{}
$headers.Add("Accept", "application/json")
$headers.Add("X-API-Key", "YOUR_API_KEY")
$response = Invoke-WebRequest -Uri 'https://books.p.apihiver.com/v1/authors?q=tolkien&limit=%7Blimit%7D' -Method GET -Headers $headers

GET /v1/authors in PowerShell (Invoke-RestMethod)

$headers=@{}
$headers.Add("Accept", "application/json")
$headers.Add("X-API-Key", "YOUR_API_KEY")
$response = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri 'https://books.p.apihiver.com/v1/authors?q=tolkien&limit=%7Blimit%7D' -Method GET -Headers $headers

GET /v1/authors in HTTP (HTTP/1.1)

GET /v1/authors?q=tolkien&limit=%7Blimit%7D HTTP/1.1
Accept: application/json
X-Api-Key: YOUR_API_KEY
Host: books.p.apihiver.com

Example response (200, application/json)

Success.

1{
2  "total": 29,
3  "authors": [
4    {
5      "id": "OL2623360A",
6      "url": "https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL2623360A",
7      "name": "Christopher Tolkien",
8      "top_work": "The Silmarillion",
9      "birth_date": "21 November 1924",
10      "death_date": "16 January 2020",
11      "work_count": 41
12    },
13    {
14      "id": "OL14431239A",
15      "url": "https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL14431239A",
16      "name": "F. Tolkien",
17      "top_work": "Thug Life",
18      "birth_date": null,
19      "death_date": null,
20      "work_count": 21
21    },
22    {
23      "id": "OL26320A",
24      "url": "https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL26320A",
25      "name": "J.R.R. Tolkien",
26      "top_work": "The Hobbit",
27      "birth_date": "3 January 1892",
28      "death_date": "2 September 1973",
29      "work_count": 346
30    }
31  ]
32}

Errors

400 — A required parameter is missing or a value has the wrong format.

1{
2  "error": {
3    "code": "INVALID_INPUT",
4    "message": "q: Field required"
5  }
6}

Gateway errors (missing key, no subscription, rate limits) are listed in Error codes.

Other Books API endpoints

Books API pricing →·Books API overview →