Sometimes linking to the search results page for an author or title on Google Books isn't enough -- you want to link to a specific book or perhaps even a specific edition of a book. To help you with this, you can click the chain icon from within a book you're viewing to generate a link that you can share with others.
Google Books can also retrieve books based on International Standard Book Numbers (ISBNs), Library of Congress Control Numbers (LCCNs), and Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) record numbers. Most books published after about 1970 have ISBNs. To find a book's ISBN, search for it on Google Books and look on its "About this Book" page. For older books you may need to rely on LCCN or OCLC records.
For example, perhaps you want to link to The Prince by Machiavelli. While the book was originally published in 1532, the edition you want to link to was printed in 1988 and has an ISBN of 0521349931. You can search directly for an ISBN by visiting the following URL:
http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0521349931
Similarly, you can find books by inserting the LCCN or OCLC number into the appropriate URL:
| Identifier | Example URL |
|---|---|
| ISBN |
http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0521349931
|
| OCLC |
http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC17546826
|
| LCCN |
http://books.google.com/books?vid=LCCN88005048
|
For some books, Google also provides the ability to link to specific pages of the book. (If the specific page cannot be found, the link will simply go to the "About this book" page.) Add the appropriate parameter to the book URL, as per the examples below: