A Classification and Subject Index for Cataloguing and Arranging the Books and‪…‬

In Melvil Dewey’s catalogue, dreams, witchcraft, and the human will each have a numbered place—alongside theology, law, languages, and the natural sciences. A shelf begins to look less like storage than a map of everything people know.

Published in 1876, this guide proposes a new order for libraries: arrange books by subject, and let decimal numbers show how each topic sits among its neighbors. Its tables move from philosophy to theology to sociology, then through philology and natural science, dividing broad fields into finer paths—from dreams and dialects to railroads and mammals. Yet knowledge refuses to stay in neat compartments. How can a number lead a reader from one subject to the next?

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.