Kenney_and_Clausen B.M.W.(eds.) - Get a Free Blog

BOOKS AND READERS IN THE ROMAN "WORLD
notorious; 1 probably the Sosii and a handful of other librarii had a reputation
to lose. For a -wealthy amateur like Pliny, with a good conceit of himself, these
inducements -were probably sufficient in themselves. However, the number and
tone of the references to booksellers in Pliny's letters and Martial's epigrams
also suggest that by the end of the first century A.D. the book trade in Rome had
developed to the point where it was normal for new books to be made available
through trade channels, as had certainly not been the case in the days of Cicero
and earlier. 2
The size of editions 3 and the arrangements for distribution are also subjects
for speculation. In Cicero's day, before the growth of the book trade, the
' edition * of a book was the handful of copies that passed from the author and
his coadjutors, if he had any, into the hands of his friends. 4 Even in the time of
Martial and Pliny there was no need for the bookseller to keep a large stock of
most books on hand. Access to an exemplar was all that was needed; a short
libellus, such as a book of Martial or Statius' Silvae, could if necessary be copied
while the customer waited, and no doubt sometimes was (cf. Mart. 2.8.3—4).
For distribution in the provinces (a subject about which nothing is known) a
single exemplar for each centre of distribution was all that was needed, to serve
as source for the copies to be sold. But the demand for books through trade
channels must have been quite haphazard and unpredictable; it would have
been absurd to lock up capital in the shape of ready-written books. 5 It is
therefore not surprising to find that such information as exists about prices
is both scanty and conflicting. 6 It must have been entirely a matter of
supply and demand. The inflated prices quoted by Gellius for antiquarian
books need not detain us; the subject belongs to the history of forgery and
bibliomania. 7
1 Cic. Q.Fr. 3.5.6; Strabo (writing probably under Augustus) i j.i.f4jtn.; Mart. 2.8.3—4. Trustworthy
copyists were clearly not easy to find: Cic. Q.Fr. 3.4.5.
* Sherwin-White (1966) 91: 'Pliny indicates. . .that the distribution of his books was entirely in
the hands of the bibliopolae.' It probably was; but his text does not actually prove the fact.
3 What Birt (1882) 351—2 has to say on the subject is guesswork pure and simple. The case of
Rufus' life of his son (Plin. Epist. 4.7.2) throws no light on normal practice.
* Cf. Sommer (1926) 412-14.
5 That booksellers held stocks which sometimes had to be 'wasted' may be suggested by references
to the use of discarded books as wrapping paper (e.g. Cat. 95.8, Hor. Epist. 2.1.269—70, al.~); but it is
hazardous to press the significance of what was clearly a literary topos.
6 Mart. 13.3: a copy of the Xenia (Book 13) for 2 or 4 sesterces; 1.117.15-17: a finely produced
copy of Book 1 for 5 denarii. In Martial's time a denarius was the price of a day's labour. Statius,
Silv. 4.9.9, 21: a book of the Silvae (?) for a decussis (10 asses = a denarius, old value), contrasted
with Brutus* orations for an as; but the context warns us against taking all this literally. On the tariff
for copyists laid down in Diocletian's Edict see Birt (1882) 208—9.
7 Zetzel (1972) 239-43.
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