diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/dialogs/config/__init__.py b/src/calibre/gui2/dialogs/config/__init__.py
index 5d855b5263..b9c57b27ab 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/dialogs/config/__init__.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/dialogs/config/__init__.py
@@ -445,6 +445,7 @@ class ConfigDialog(ResizableDialog, Ui_Dialog):
         self.username.setText(opts.username)
         self.password.setText(opts.password if opts.password else '')
         self.opt_max_opds_items.setValue(opts.max_opds_items)
+        self.opt_max_opds_ungrouped_items.setValue(opts.max_opds_ungrouped_items)
         self.auto_launch.setChecked(config['autolaunch_server'])
         self.systray_icon.setChecked(config['systray_icon'])
         self.sync_news.setChecked(config['upload_news_to_device'])
@@ -848,6 +849,8 @@ class ConfigDialog(ResizableDialog, Ui_Dialog):
         sc.set('port', self.port.value())
         sc.set('max_cover', mcs)
         sc.set('max_opds_items', self.opt_max_opds_items.value())
+        sc.set('max_opds_ungrouped_items',
+                self.opt_max_opds_ungrouped_items.value())
         config['delete_news_from_library_on_upload'] = self.delete_news.isChecked()
         config['upload_news_to_device'] = self.sync_news.isChecked()
         config['search_as_you_type'] = self.search_as_you_type.isChecked()
diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/dialogs/config/config.ui b/src/calibre/gui2/dialogs/config/config.ui
index db748dae7e..917333a989 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/dialogs/config/config.ui
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/dialogs/config/config.ui
@@ -892,6 +892,26 @@
                  </property>
                 </widget>
                </item>
+               <item row="6" column="1">
+                <widget class="QSpinBox" name="opt_max_opds_ungrouped_items">
+                 <property name="minimum">
+                  <number>25</number>
+                 </property>
+                 <property name="maximum">
+                  <number>1000000</number>
+                 </property>
+                </widget>
+               </item>
+               <item row="6" column="0">
+                <widget class="QLabel" name="label_16">
+                 <property name="text">
+                  <string>Max. OPDS &amp;ungrouped items:</string>
+                 </property>
+                 <property name="buddy">
+                  <cstring>opt_max_opds_ungrouped_items</cstring>
+                 </property>
+                </widget>
+               </item>
               </layout>
              </item>
              <item>
diff --git a/src/calibre/library/server/__init__.py b/src/calibre/library/server/__init__.py
index 441aee9b60..5050dfaa99 100644
--- a/src/calibre/library/server/__init__.py
+++ b/src/calibre/library/server/__init__.py
@@ -38,6 +38,12 @@ def server_config(defaults=None):
     c.add_opt('max_opds_items', ['--max-opds-items'], default=30,
             help=_('The maximum number of matches to return per OPDS query. '
             'This affects Stanza, WordPlayer, etc. integration.'))
+    c.add_opt('max_opds_ungrouped_items', ['--max-opds-ungrouped-items'],
+            default=100,
+            help=_('Group items in categories such as author/tags '
+                'by first letter when there are more than this number '
+                'of items. Default: %default. Set to a large number '
+                'to disable grouping.'))
     return c
 
 def main():
diff --git a/src/calibre/library/server/opds.py b/src/calibre/library/server/opds.py
index f32f60a6dd..d396d73af2 100644
--- a/src/calibre/library/server/opds.py
+++ b/src/calibre/library/server/opds.py
@@ -445,7 +445,7 @@ class OPDSServer(object):
 
         id_ = 'calibre-category-feed:'+which
 
-        MAX_ITEMS = 50
+        MAX_ITEMS = self.opts.max_opds_ungrouped_items
 
         if len(items) <= MAX_ITEMS:
             max_items = self.opts.max_opds_items
@@ -459,8 +459,6 @@ class OPDSServer(object):
                     self.text, self.count = text, count
 
             starts = set([x.name[0] for x in items])
-            if len(starts) > MAX_ITEMS:
-                starts = set([x.name[:2] for x in items])
             category_groups = OrderedDict()
             for x in sorted(starts, cmp=lambda x,y:cmp(x.lower(), y.lower())):
                 category_groups[x] = len([y for y in items if