tjnor wrote:I used to run a trade bookstore, and although we used to keep in a goodly number of Loebs and Cambridge Greek and Latin texts we never really sold any. Once a customer came in who ordered the entire Loeb library (at a pretty good discount!) but he only wanted it as a backdrop for his office.
There is one local bookstore which is paticularly good at supplying Classics books. I suspect that this is not entirely on account of profit, since I once caught one of the employees reading the Hesiod Loeb, though I never tried to talk to him about it (now that I think of it, I wonder if it was his own personal copy, or whether he was borrowing the store copy). Most of the books have been sitting there ever since I first got interested in classics - on the other hand, many of them are out of print and have a hefty price tag. I do not want to pay 70$ for a commentary on Pindar's Pythian odes which does not even have the Greek text, though it refers to the Greek and not a translation. I don't think many people do. However, the bookstore might find it worthwhile to wait a few years for a buyer who would pay $70 out of desperation rather than selling it quickly to me for $7.
On the other hand, there is a small group of Classics books which has a high turnover rate. Paticularly Homer and Homerica, though a few other types as well. The Loeb for Galen has been there forever, but Homer Loebs don't last more than a month. Commentaries on Homer which cost less than 15$ also have a relatively short shelf life, though pricing one at 30$ guarantees a long shelf life. I only saw Cunliffe's lexicon once - the next time I was at the store, a week later, it had disappeared (and I, for once, was not the one who spirited it away). I also sometimes see people perusing the classics alongside me, though I never have tried to strike up a conversation. Maybe I should some time
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