Naples, Past and Present

Before Naples appears, Arthur H. Norway stands on a quiet steamer deck, straining to glimpse Ischia—and thinking of the Siren whose song lured sailors to their bones.

On a spring passage across the Tyrrhene Sea, the islands and headlands emerge from the haze, beautiful beneath the shadow of volcanoes and old dangers. Norway follows the coast through layers of legend and history: Greek ships once braved waters haunted by Scylla, Charybdis and the Sirens, while later towers watched for corsairs. Yet the past is not safely gone; earthquakes have shattered towns, and the ancient city itself lies hidden beneath crowded streets. As Naples draws near, what can the sea still reveal of all the lives and stories it has carried?

With centuries of literature, it's inevitable that some will fall through the cracks. We hunt down public domain works and restore them so they're not lost to the world.

Who are we? We're Cairn Press. Our background is in design, publishing, typography, and technology. These skills fuel our mission to create the highest quality Public Domain eBooks available online, at an affordable price. We give them the treatment they deserve; our proprietary process restores books for a better overall user experience in design, readability, and e-reader compatibility.