Why “Maktoob”
In Arabic, مكتوب means two things at once: something written, a text or a letter, and something meant to be. We liked a name that says both. A good book often feels like it found you at the right moment.
We started Maktoob in Cairo because the great books of both languages were hard to read well on the screens most of us read on. Free texts online are full of scanning errors, broken lines and no notes. Printed editions are lovely, but not in your pocket at 2 a.m.
Our editions
Every book we sell is a Maktoob Edition. You can read it three ways.
The e-book
Opens at once in your library, on any device, with notes on names and places, highlights, and a night theme.
Standard Edition
A printed copy from our stock, delivered across Egypt in 1–6 working days, with the e-book included.
Made for you
Printed when you order, with your binding, paper and name on the cover, and a dedication if it’s a gift.
With Maktoob Plus you can read every e-book for one monthly price.
Where the texts come from
Every book on Maktoob is in the public domain in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, where a work becomes free 50 years after its author’s death, and in the United States. Most of our English texts come from Project Gutenberg, and our Arabic texts from Arabic Wikisource, whose volunteers we thank.
We then make the edition: we check the text against reliable printed sources, correct errors, split it into chapters, set proper quotation marks, and write notes where a name or a word needs one. The words are free; the reading is our work.
Each book’s source, translator, date and the reason it’s free to publish are listed in our text credits.
Who we are
- Company
- Maktoob Publishing LLC
- Address
- 14 Makram Ebeid St, Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt
- Commercial register
- 000000
- Tax registration
- 000-000-000
- VAT number, Saudi Arabia
- 300000000000003
- help@maktoob.example
- +20 10 0000 0000