python-3.xepubebooklib

Python3 project to build a comic .epub file using ebooklib


I'm trying to take a folder of images and build a .epub file using Python3 and the ebooklib module.

The book is a comic book, so I don't need text in the ebook, just images from a folder called 'images'. Here is what I have so far:

from ebooklib import epub
import os

#set up the epub file
book = epub.EpubBook()
book.set_title("My Comic Book")
book.set_language('en')

#add images to epub
for filename in os.listdir("images"):
    if filename.endswith(".jpg"):
        image_file = open("images/" + filename, 'rb').read()
        image = epub.EpubImage()
        image.file_name = filename
        image.content = image_file
        book.add_item(image)

#write epub to file
epub.write_epub("my_comic.epub", book, {})

Running this creates a file called 'my_comic.epub'. But when I try to open it in Apple iBooks, I get the error:

Cannot open "My Comic Book" It is formatted incorrectly, or is not a format that Apple Books can open.

What am I doing wrong?


Solution

  • You need a xhtml file to list all your images. This seems to work.

    from ebooklib import epub
    import os
    
    #set up the epub file
    book = epub.EpubBook()
    book.set_title("My Comic Book")
    book.set_language('en')
    
    content = [u'<html> <head></head> <body>']
    
    for filename in os.listdir("images"):
        if filename.endswith(".jpg"):
            image_file = open("images/" + filename, 'rb').read()
            image = epub.EpubImage()
            image.file_name = "images/" + filename
            image.content = image_file
            book.add_item(image)
            content.append('<img src="images/{}"/>'.format(filename))
    
    content.append('</body> </html>')
    c1 = epub.EpubHtml(title='Images', file_name='images.xhtml', lang='en')
    c1.content=''.join(content)
    
    book.add_item(c1)
    book.spine = ['nav', c1]
    
    #write epub to file
    epub.write_epub("my_comic.epub", book, {})