Common Weal Press is a small Christian classics publisher that prepares careful modernized editions of public-domain books and gives them away free. Its library holds 16 books dated 1609 to 1886, drawn mostly from the Reformers and the Puritans, with authors including William Perkins, John Owen, John Bunyan, Jonathan Edwards, and Charles Spurgeon.^1
Each edition starts from the earliest reliable printing. Spelling and punctuation are brought up to date, Latin passages are translated, and words lost or smudged in surviving copies are restored, while older words that still carry meaning, such as "thou" and "ye," usually stay as the author wrote them. Open-source tools handle the routine spelling changes, and a human editor checks every page; Scripture references are checked verse by verse. The press does not rewrite the books: the author's words, ideas, and voice stay as they were.^2
Every book can be read in the browser with the Then & Now view, which sets the modernized text beside the original printing and lets you tap any changed word to see what it used to say, and why. The same master text becomes the EPUB and PDF downloads, which readers can keep, share, and print. Print-on-demand paperbacks through Lulu are coming soon, priced at the cost of printing, with no profit or royalty to the press.^1
The press names no founder or editor on its site; it speaks simply as Common Weal Press, taking its name from the common weal, "the good of everyone together in the body of Christ." Every edition is dedicated to the public domain under Creative Commons Zero, so readers may copy, share, print, and adapt the books for church, school, or ministry use without asking permission. The press accepts no donations, and asks readers who want to help to pass the books on instead.^2
Everything published is free: reading online and the EPUB and PDF downloads need no account and no sign-up.^1
