Hello all,
Apart from Amazon, where do you all buy your Classics’ books online, especially harder to find ones?
In Spain we have Http://iberlibro.com, which I think is afiliated to Http://www.abebooks.com
brick, wooden, and concrete bookstores
I know it’s not the most helpful answer, but the only time I think I didn’t get a (dead-tree) Classics book from a local bookstore was when I ordered Cunliffe’s lexicon from Amazon, and then I slapped myself when I saw it being sold in a bookstore 6 blocks from where I lived 10$ cheaper than what I paid for it through Amazon, which might be part of why I’ve never ordered Classics books online ever since.
Thanks Gonzalo, must appreciated. I’ll be sure to check out abebooks.com. I used to have a list on my old computer, but since I am in the process of switching to a different computer I don’t have access to it now…the only other store which I remember is:
If anyone else could further add to the list, I’m sure everyone would benefit.
thanks!
brick, wooden, and concrete bookstores
It’s a sorry affair for me in southern California. I have tried very hard to find my very own $1 classics bookstore, but a store with a single shelf of classical material isn’t close at all. Not all of us are lucky like you, William, and whiteoctave. Anyway, here is another one:
For the hard to find books, this is a decent site. I have been scouting for “Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque” for a long time. This is the cheapest place so far (but still expensive).
@ GGG:
Count yourself lucky that you have access to such stores which have second hand specialized books. There is hardly anything like that here, at least the last time I checked. Although many years ago I picked up a used OCD 2nd ed. which was cheap (this was the exception, everything else which I wanted I have gotten from Amazon, either used or new).
@1%homeless:
There was a time when I could find some bookstores with 1 group of shelves filled with Classics books, but the last time I checked the selection was much lower. I must admit that I am guilty of not having checked my old University bookstore for a while (they are NOT cheap). However I have been to my University library since I have graduated, and, ah, acquired some facsimilies. When I was in Georgia a while back I stopped by Barnes and Noble, and they had a lot of selection. Again, nothing like that up here in Montreal.
If anyone else has any other online stores, please post them.
Thanks!
PS: Nice sig 1%homeless! I’m a first generation Transformers fan myself. Was that quote from the first generation?
EDIT: Holy smokes 1%homeless, your book is almost 300USD cheaper on your site as compared to Amazon! In the future I will check there as opposed to Amazon!
To add a couple places:
Since you’re in Canada, there’s chapters.indigo, which can sometimes have some odd deals on new things, and also has a used books section as well.
If you want to order something from Britain, instead of amazon.co.uk, there’s The Book Depository, which has a lot of hard to find books for very decent prices, and best of all it has free shipping to all sorts of places, including Canada. And the stuff gets to you quickly, and so I consider it now as one of my first options, instead of a last resort (like I do amazon.com).
Another used book site is alibris.com, but it doesn’t seem to be as useful as abebooks, which was already mentioned.
In my bookmarks, I also have Eisenbrauns, which concentrates on the ancient Near East and the Bible, so I’m not sure that interests you. But they seem to have a good reputation, although I’ve never bought from them.
And there’s got to be good used book stores in Montreal!!! 
It took me a while to find them in Toronto, but they must exist there. And I can’t tell for sure if you’ve already gone, but if you haven’t, go to McGill’s bookstore – even if it is too expensive I would assume they would know where else you could look.
plukidis, yer in Montreal 
There’s a small used bookshop (also sells ice-cream and other goodies if I recall correctly, it’s been about a year) in the Cremazie metro station which sells books in other languages; I got Ritchie’s ‘fabulae faciles’ for a looney (I couldn’t resist! A loonie! Gotta admit it was the only book they had in Latin though, and it’s a relatively worn copy by Longman)
You probably already know about Michel Fortin (St Denis). Though they’re mainly modern languages, they have a pretty decent Latin section (I never checked the Greek). And they can order almost anything you like, but with the internet you’ll probably find it cheaper elsewhere (they hike up the price) unless you’re dealing with the publishers themselves who often sell only to bookstores.
Also there’s http://www.pullins.com/txt/LatinGreekLang.htm which sells Orberg’s series, and Allen & Greenough’s new latin grammar. Focus publishing’s a really good company in my opinion.
For harder to find stuff (especially out of print stuff), you might wanna try a libris. I’m not sure how good they are though cuz I haven’t tried them yet.
Edit: I hadn’t seen modus’ posting (gives you an idea of how slow I am, ha), but apparently alibris isn’t all that great.
You should also check out a couple of used book stores on Stanley around Chapters (Peel metro station).
I’m purty sure Montreal has loads of wonderful used bookstores, but mostly they’re in French!
Well, this is a website which I mainly use to get cheap textbooks, but now that I think about it, I don’t see why it can’t be put to the use of finding cheap classics books as well -
http://www.bestwebbuys.com/books/
P.S. Having that local bookstore (well, at least back when I was in San Francisco) with shelves and shelves of Classics was sheer luck. I think the reason why that Classics section was so large was because one (or more, who knows) of the employees is a Classics geek himself, since I sometimes see him reading a Loeb when he’s not busy at the cash register. However, since there were often people other than myself browsing through the Classics section (and that cheap Cunliffe they had disappeared quickly), I suspect it’s not a bad business decision for them either.
But my Classics collection is nowhere near as fabulous as whiteoctave’s selection, and I’m sure the bookstores he has access to would make my ex-local bookstore look like a measly garage sale.
I’m sure the bookstores he has access to would make my ex-local bookstore look like a measly garage sale.
Yeah, someday when I visit England, I will plunder his bookstores like ancient Norse men. Anyway, right now I would even be excited about a classics garage sale. Since I don’t have to worry about finding a cheaper Cunliffe lexicon in a physical bookstore, I just recently paid about $20 for a presumably new one. I worry more about it being a paperback copy. Then again, my used copy of the Oxford Latin Dictionary is about to be de-boarded. Are you really serious about the Duckburg location? That is awesome if that is the name of where you really reside.
Was that quote from the first generation?
I believe so… Oh yes, Allen and Greenough can be cheaply had for $13.57 on Amazon. Many publishers of classics materials sell at book cover prices and can hardly compete with online retailers’ prices --especially amazon.
Edit: Bwahaha! 
Would you believe me that Walmart ran out of West’s Iliad?
Does anyone know if I can buy books in an on-line bookstore -such as Amazon, out of Spain- without using a credit card?
Thanks.
You can use check/debit cards at Amazon. If you have an Amazon gift certificate, of course you can use it, too (You could, for example, give someone with a credit card some cash, have them buy you a gift certificate, and then you could buy whatever you want). Also, if you can get a postal money order in $US, they will accept that. They will only accept checks/direct account transfers/etc. if the money is coming from a US bank.
Actually, come to think of it, I had bought my Cunliffe with a check - no credit card at all. It takes longer to get the books - they won’t ship until the check clears - but its possible.
i do not litterally live in a town called “Duckburg”, but I live on the edge of a neighborhood which I call “Duckburg” because there are ALWAYS ducks around, hanging out on the lawns, quacking at each other like little children. And the weird thing is, I don’t think there is any body of water really near by (well there is … in the opposite direction of where I live from Duckburg). However, the ducks really like to spend time on people’s lawns. They even have traffic signs for drivers to watch out for ducks crossing the street (you know, like they sometimes have highway signs telling you to watch out for deer). So, because I am far, far, far more likely to find a duck on the sidewalk than a human being, my nickname is Duckburg.
'Course, even if I did have whiteoctave’s Classics bookshops around, it would probably be cheaper to buy a subscription to the Stanford library, which is not too far away from here … except I have a lot less time to devote to classics as I used to … do you live near any universities with really good classics departments/libraries? You can probably get access to their libraries for a reasonable sum, or perhaps even for free..
Ok, Edonelly. You have given me a great idea, I could send the money by a sort of money-postal service (such as Money-Gram).
When I buy in Http://www.iberlibro.com I use to pay the postman when he gives me those books but, like I see, I cannot do it out of Europe (but it´s able, for instance, in Italy http://www.libroccasione.com/ http://www.libroco.it/ http://www.maremagnum.com/ )
Thank you.
@ modus.irrealis:
Chapters is known to me of course, but often their on-shelf selection is low. I have ordered from them, but quite often Amazon has a better selection, especially for hard to find items.
Thanks for all those other online stores, I’ll check them out. Since I have graduated from McGill University, I am aware of their bookstore; I remember buying my first Loebs (complete Tacitus and Thucydidides) and Peter Green’s Hellenistic history from there. I have gone through several used bookstores, but usually the pickings are slim…usually. Or maybe I was unlucky.
@ nostos:
Ah, a fellow Montrealer! Hello/Salut!
Thanks for the stores you provided, I’ll be sure to check them out. I’m glad you managed to find some useful items on sale cheap. Last time I checked some used bookstores (admittedly a while ago) I didn’t find anything worth getting, except in isolated incidents (2nd ed. OCD, and Peter Brown’s Late Antiquity, and some others). And of course, as you say, most of the used bookstores stock French books.
@ GGG:
OK, I searched the archives, and WOW, whiteoctave’s collection made my jaw drop. It’s over here in case some relative newcomer has missed it (page 2):
http://discourse.textkit.com/t/personal-libraries/1605/1
@Gonzalo:
I’m glad you have some replies, so hopefully you can get your hands on some interesting books. GGG’s suggestion about getting access to university libraries will allow you to get access Classics/History journals for articles whose citations you will come across in your readings. So it’s worth it, become a member as soon as you can!
This is his somewhat permanent link:
http://phileleutherus.fortunecity.co.uk/Booklist1.html
It works well as a bibliography.
do you live near any universities with really good classics departments/libraries?
Not really, but I have a car. 
I think the university with the best classics department is probably UC Irvine. That is too far. For some reason I am quite averse to paying a subscription fee of about $60 a semester to borrow books from a library that is not close by. Maybe if it is the Standford Classical Library, it might seem worth it. I use worldcat.org for hard to find books and each unviersity will have only certain materials. That would mean I would have to subscribe to a number of college libraries. Luckily, I usually can find about 80% of the books I need through my local public library system.
By the way, there is usually some huge used booksale in Palo Alto that occurs about once a month. http://www.booksalefinder.com/CAS.html#X1603 Have you been there? Does it have a good selection of ancient language books since it’s Stanford territory?
Never heard of it. It’s quite sad, even thoguht I know where there are bookstores in this area, I haven’t visited them because I am very busy (for example, today I went to school at 9:30 am, I left school at 10pm, and during that time I only left for 1 hour to get dinner at a local restaurant. There were some breaks, but I reckon I spent about 9 hours in classes today. And I ran errands during some of those breaks).
Salvete Omnes,
Since I have managed trade and college textbook stores for the last twenty years I think I might help out here.
First, the publishing business for classical studies falls into two camps: trade books and textbooks. A Victor Hanson title falls on the trade side, while offerings from Bolchazy-Carducci might fall on the text side of the equation.
Loebs are net priced books (meaning little to no margin for the bookstore selling them) and can be seen as a hybrid of trade and text. Any store that carries new copies of these loves books and loves its customers. They are making NO money on these titles.
So, where does this leave the impecunious scholary sort who wishes to recreate the Library of Alexandria?
For first-run titles the only advice I have is the usual: Amazon and its ilk. This is where you might find a Paul Cartledge title on the Battle of Thermopylae. A good publisher (with scholarly credentials intact) and low prices (usually paperback) is Hackett www.hackettpublishing.com. These, however, will be either translations or secondary studies.
A hit-or-miss method that has worked for me in the past is to find out when your local university (especially one with a good classics program) bookstore is having an end-of-year sale. You can often find titles marked down to a dollar. These would be books used for classroom study and more appropriate to the needs of Textkit folks.
If you aren’t looking for bargains, just haunt the shelves of the college bookstore just before the first week of class, you will find all sorts of treasures. Believe me, I have never had a store refuse to sell to me because I wasn’t affiliated with the university.
One last note: I once had a customer in my trade store ask for a quote from Harvard (the publishers of the Loeb Library www.hup.harvard.edu/loeb/) for a discount if he bought the whole series-Greek and Latin. (I think he had a law office or a brand-new McMansion to decorate.) The price was about a 30% discount. Still steep, but all in mint condition. This was from a publisher who is notoriously not open to discounting. This is a nice dream for some of us.
tjnor
It’s funny you say that because just a few months ago I got his book Thermopylae: the battle that changed the world from a local used book store. It wasn’t until I got home to read it that I realized it was an uncorrected proofs edition. It’s actually kind of neat because there are little notes scattered throughout about things to come and what will be moved in the final edition. You can’t get that on Amazon (but you probably can on ebay…)
edonnelly wrote: I realized it was an uncorrected proofs edition
We used to receive quite a few of these in the trade bookstore business. They are fun. I first read the Da Vinci code in one of these, it had the entire marketing plan printed on the back cover. How strange to have read it before all the hype.
You can also sometimes convince publishers to send you a review copy if there is the possibility you might review the book somewhere, but I wouldn’t abuse this too much.
Do people think that Textkit would be an appropriate venue for reviews?
tjnor