How shall I specify the URL to a page in a book in Google Books?

Question

In URL https://books.google.com/books?id=rAy-NliGEPMC&lpg=PA126&pg=PA126#v=onepage&q&f=false, what do the following query strings mean:

• "lpg=PA126"
• "pg=PA126#v=onepage"
• "q"
• "f=false"?

If I want to specify the URL to a particular page in a book, shall I modify the value of "lpg" or the one of "pg"?

Answer 1

In the given example, the URL is: https://books.google.com/books?id=rAy-NliGEPMC&lpg=PA126&pg=PA126#v=onepage&q&f=false

The URL could also be written as: https://books.google.com/books?id=rAy-NliGEPMC&pg=PA126#v=onepage&f=false

The URL syntax is:

• id: The book ID (id=rAy-NliGEPMC)
• pg: The page number (pg=PA126)
• lpg: The landing page (lpg=PA126) – see below for more info
• v: Whether viewed as a centerfold or a single page (v=onepage OR v=twopage)
• f: Whether to hide the left hand side-bar or not (f=false OR f=true)

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Although not officially documented, the lpg= parameter refers to the landing page to the Google Book.

How this works in our example:

• When you first land (through a link) to page 126, the link is: https://books.google.com/books?id=rAy-NliGEPMC&pg=PA126#v=onepage&q&f=false

• When you want to share the link by clicking the button with the chain-link icon while on the same page, the copied link changes to: https://books.google.com/books?id=rAy-NliGEPMC&lpg=PA126&pg=PA126#v=onepage&q&f=false

  

  (It adds the parameter &lpg=PA126 before &pg=PA126.)

• If you then go to page 137 (for example) and then try to share the link, the new copied link becomes: https://books.google.com/books?id=rAy-NliGEPMC&lpg=PA126&pg=PA137#v=onepage&q&f=false

  

  (It changes &pg=PA126 to &pg=PA137, but the &lpg=PA126 parameter is unchanged.)