diff --git a/bookwyrm/forms/lists.py b/bookwyrm/forms/lists.py
index 647db3bfe..f5008baa3 100644
--- a/bookwyrm/forms/lists.py
+++ b/bookwyrm/forms/lists.py
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ class SortListForm(forms.Form):
     sort_by = ChoiceField(
         choices=(
             ("order", _("List Order")),
-            ("title", _("Book Title")),
+            ("sort_title", _("Book Title")),
             ("rating", _("Rating")),
         ),
         label=_("Sort By"),
diff --git a/bookwyrm/migrations/0179_populate_sort_title.py b/bookwyrm/migrations/0179_populate_sort_title.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5c9ae39a3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bookwyrm/migrations/0179_populate_sort_title.py
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+import re
+from itertools import chain
+
+from django.db import migrations, transaction
+from django.db.models import Q
+
+from bookwyrm.settings import LANGUAGE_ARTICLES
+
+
+@transaction.atomic
+def populate_sort_title(apps, schema_editor):
+    Edition = apps.get_model("bookwyrm", "Edition")
+    db_alias = schema_editor.connection.alias
+    editions_wo_sort_title = Edition.objects.using(db_alias).filter(
+        Q(sort_title__isnull=True) | Q(sort_title__exact="")
+    )
+    for edition in editions_wo_sort_title:
+        articles = chain(
+            *(LANGUAGE_ARTICLES.get(language, ()) for language in edition.languages)
+        )
+        if articles:
+            icase_articles = (
+                f"[{a[0].capitalize()}{a[0].lower()}]{a[1:]}" for a in articles
+            )
+            edition.sort_title = re.sub(
+                f'^{" |^".join(icase_articles)} ', "", edition.title
+            )
+        else:
+            edition.sort_title = edition.title
+        edition.save()
+
+
+class Migration(migrations.Migration):
+
+    dependencies = [
+        ("bookwyrm", "0178_auto_20230328_2132"),
+    ]
+
+    operations = [
+        migrations.RunPython(populate_sort_title),
+    ]
diff --git a/bookwyrm/models/book.py b/bookwyrm/models/book.py
index 4e7ffcad3..2bad36a50 100644
--- a/bookwyrm/models/book.py
+++ b/bookwyrm/models/book.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 """ database schema for books and shelves """
+from itertools import chain
 import re
 
 from django.contrib.postgres.search import SearchVectorField
@@ -17,6 +18,7 @@ from bookwyrm.preview_images import generate_edition_preview_image_task
 from bookwyrm.settings import (
     DOMAIN,
     DEFAULT_LANGUAGE,
+    LANGUAGE_ARTICLES,
     ENABLE_PREVIEW_IMAGES,
     ENABLE_THUMBNAIL_GENERATION,
 )
@@ -363,6 +365,16 @@ class Edition(Book):
             for author_id in self.authors.values_list("id", flat=True):
                 cache.delete(f"author-books-{author_id}")
 
+        # Create sort title by removing articles from title
+        if self.sort_title is None:
+            articles = chain(
+                *(LANGUAGE_ARTICLES[language] for language in self.languages)
+            )
+            icase_articles = (
+                f"[{a[0].capitalize()}{a[0].lower()}]{a[1:]}" for a in articles
+            )
+            self.sort_title = re.sub(f'^{" |^".join(icase_articles)} ', "", self.title)
+
         return super().save(*args, **kwargs)
 
     @classmethod
diff --git a/bookwyrm/settings.py b/bookwyrm/settings.py
index 8dcf90fcb..f9940bcd5 100644
--- a/bookwyrm/settings.py
+++ b/bookwyrm/settings.py
@@ -312,6 +312,9 @@ LANGUAGES = [
     ("zh-hant", _("繁體中文 (Traditional Chinese)")),
 ]
 
+LANGUAGE_ARTICLES = {
+    "English": {"The", "A", "An"},
+}
 
 TIME_ZONE = "UTC"
 
diff --git a/bookwyrm/templates/shelf/shelf.html b/bookwyrm/templates/shelf/shelf.html
index 79ec241be..7d0035ed3 100644
--- a/bookwyrm/templates/shelf/shelf.html
+++ b/bookwyrm/templates/shelf/shelf.html
@@ -145,7 +145,7 @@
             <thead>
                 <tr>
                     <th>{% trans "Cover"%}</th>
-                    <th>{% trans "Title"  as text %}{% include 'snippets/table-sort-header.html' with field="title" sort=sort text=text %}</th>
+                    <th>{% trans "Title"  as text %}{% include 'snippets/table-sort-header.html' with field="sort_title" sort=sort text=text %}</th>
                     <th>{% trans "Author"  as text %}{% include 'snippets/table-sort-header.html' with field="author" sort=sort text=text %}</th>
                     {% if request.user.is_authenticated %}
                         {% if is_self %}