OT: Loeb Classical Library (LCL)

There are a quite a few topics which touch on Loeb Classical Library books in the FSD forum, but these just touch on the books so I thought I would post this for future posterity and pose some questions.

The mission of Loeb, seems quite similar to those of us familiar with Ede's words: "The mission of the Loeb Classical Library, founded by James Loeb in 1911, has always been to make Greek and Latin literature accessible to the broadest range of readers. The digital Loeb Classical Library extends this mission into the twenty-first century. Harvard University Press is honored to renew James Loeb's vision of accessibility and presents an interconnected, fully searchable, perpetually growing, virtual library of all that is important in Greek and Latin literature. Epic and lyric poetry; tragedy and comedy; history, travel, philosophy, and oratory; the great medical writers and mathematicians; those Church Fathers who made particular use of pagan culture — in short, our entire Greek and Latin Classical heritage is represented here with up-to-date texts and accurate English translations. More than 520 volumes of Latin, Greek, and English texts are available in a modern and elegant interface, allowing readers to browse, search, bookmark, annotate, and share content with ease."

Description of books: As far as I can tell, all volumes are bound in full cloth and are smyth-sewn, and come with dust jackets. Each title is given a number for reference purposes. It also appears that many of these works comprise some of the only accessible (or relatively accessible) material on specific authors.

Catalog of Titles*: https://www.loebclassics.com/volumes

*Note: the numbering convention is odd, indicative of sets being named AFTER initial publication.
Example: Greek Lyric I is 142. Greek Lyric II is 143. Greek Lyric III is 476. Greek Lyric IV is 461. Greek Lyric V is 144.

---
QUESTIONS:
1. Are these books worth the money they typically cost? They are very small volumes (about 6.5" x 4.5"). In my experiences, a new volume will run between $30-60 CDN.
2. Do you find the additional scholarly material in these volumes applicable and accessible for plebeians?
3. How would you rate the production quality of these volumes?
4. Do any FSD's collect/read these and have any opinions on their merits?
---

CONTENT (taken from Greek Lyric I Sappho and Alcaeus LCL #142):

Example of Biographical Information on authors and FS Tangentially Applicable excerpt of material on Sappho (one of 61 historical references to begin the text):
"Sappho was a Lesbian by birth, of the city of Mytilene. Her father was Scamander or, according to some, Scamandronymus, and she had three brothers, Erigyius, Larichus and Charaxus, the eldest, who sailed to Egypt and associated with one Doricha, spending large sums on her; Sappho was more fond of the young Larichus. She had a daughter Cleius, named after her own mother. She has been accused by some of being irregular in her ways and a woman-lover. In appearance she seems to have been contemptible and quite ugly, being dark in complexion and of very small stature." Source: 2nd or 3rd century papyrus

Example of Fragment translation by David A. Campbell (Greek text also included):

Fragment 16 excerpt only, 2nd century papyrus:
"Some say a host of cavalry, others of infantry, and others of ships, is the most beautiful thing on the black earth, but I say it is whatsoever a person loves."

I've been interested in these for a couple of years now. Their selection is incredible, covering all extant Greco-Roman works, I think. I've yet to pull the trigger on a purchase.

A while back, NLNils (hope you don't mind my sharing this!) did some investigation and relayed this -

"I went into town and fondled the first book of Livy by LOEB. I will share the imgur link down below, and write up my observations first. The books are indeed small. The paperback it lays side to side with is 8 by 5 inches. The binding is sewn and the paper is cream in color. The margins are not too bad and the font size is fine for the format and easy to read. It just has one major drawback: The printing is really poor. Print on demand to be exact. The text is under inked, over inked and off line on every page. It’s no better quality than the cheapest paperbacks out there. I checked another copy of Livy and it was not a one off. I tried to photograph the result in the later photos. If that doesn’t put you off, they are worth the money for their completeness.

https://imgur.com/a/RITIO68"

Hope that helps you out.

>2 adriano77:

I would agree with Nils' assessment in regards to the print quality of the text. They are perhaps photographic reproductions, similar to the method employed by Easton Press. I find the font size on the smaller size, but the footnotes are even tinier and require the page to be read close to the eyes.

I haven't bought any recently, the newest being printed in 2000, and the print quality wasn't that bad, though small enough to be hard on old eyes. I guess Harvard has gone the way of most UPs in printing on demand. Might be possible to find an older copy sitting on the shelves somewhere.
I bought mainly to keep my Latin more or less alive, so I wasn't too concerned about the English translation, which can be pedestrian and even quaint.

>1 EclecticIndulgence:
QUESTIONS:
1. Are these books worth the money they typically cost? They are very small volumes (about 6.5" x 4.5"). In my experiences, a new volume will run between $30-60 CDN.
2. Do you find the additional scholarly material in these volumes applicable and accessible for plebeians?
3. How would you rate the production quality of these volumes?
4. Do any FSD's collect/read these and have any opinions on their merits?

1. Yes they are worth the money, in my opinion, bar the glued editions.
2. Yes, they are neither technically intimidating nor aloof, being entirely accessible to the layman.
3. Very good. Smyth sewn bindings on my editions bar one (Virgil II) which has been glued. I'm not sure if they continued with this deviation away from SSB.
4. I do not collect mine, but have accumulated them through studying Greek and Latin. I have not had any urge to collect them as a set. The merits of these volumes sit in their accessibility in size and parallel texts. Perfect for studying or reading. Come of the translations have been around for a while, but that is just a matter of taste, on whether this bothers anyone.

I should mention that there are also The I Tatti Renaissance Library, The Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library, The Murty Classical Library which are similar in the way the books are approach, but importantly not identical. I own volumes from the Murty Classical Library series (Classics from the Indian sub-continent) and I must say I'm very pleased. They are beautiful books bound in cloth with new translations and the printing quality is sharp and good. The Murty library is new so all of these editions are new as well. I should say that they are sewn with independent signatures but the signatures are attached to a block of glue, just like some FS editions are (what is this type of binding called?). The paper is quite thin though so the book does open flat on a surface.

1: It depends on what you want from the book. If you're in it for the translation only, I'd try finding one with a more comprehensive introduction/commentary on the book you're reading. In-line commentary is largely missing, as is a large part of the historical context. For the layman who just wants to read a translation and look at the Latin every now and again it'll be enough, but if you want to actually study the text (both in Latin/Greek and in translation), you are better off elsewhere. For the Latin or Greek, I'd suggest Oxford Classical Texts due to their critical apparatus on every single line. For commentary on source text or translation, it depends on what title it is, but there's usually a better work out there at the same pricepoint, though not smyth-sown.

2: It is applicable and as I said probably enough for the plebeian. The information inside the translation I find lacking, personally, especially for people unfamiliar with Greco-Roman literature. You could be left with more questions than you started out with...

3: Production quality on the volumes I own (roughly 10, mostly second-hand and anywhere between 1980 and 2010) is quite good with clear printing and proper binding. Some copies have been found by others to be wanting in this department, so this might warrant a proper browse before buying. I can recommend buying second-hand if possible.

4: I collect text editions (not Loeb per se), though most are either OUP or CUP for their more thorough treatment of the source text, different variations in the manuscripts and (in case of the CUP) excellent commentary. Then again, I prefer puzzling my way through the Latin/Greek to reading a translation, so I accept that my expectations from a text are not the same as your average reader.

The most thorough and scholarly edition I have is from British Classical Press.
I have recently acquired Herodotus book VIII, edited by the late great Enoch Powell. The commentary and introduction account for around three fifths of the material.