Loeb vs Cambridge vs Oxford publishing and traslations, go
>inb4 translations lerl
Loeb is going to win no matter what since it has the original facing the translation.
>>8113682
And if it didn't have that?
>>8113678
translations lerl
*Loeb publishes dozens of texts and even entire writers literally available nowhere else in English
*Loeb has multiple generations of translations, and has new editions being published right now, with emphasis placed on revitalizing what may have been a clunky translation from nearly a century ago
*With those different generations of translations come differing quality footnotes. Some more meaningful and important works (e.g., Polybius) are generously annotated. Frankly Oxford over-annotates. My OWC 400 page copy of Tacitus' annals has about 130 pages of end notes.
Admittedly introductory critical apparatus is usually brief if even existent. Ideally Loebs are either used to read the original language, or to access something otherwise nonexistent in English translation (a problem anyone will face if interested in going deeper than the mere surface of the ancients).
OP I do my best to only buy Loeb when I have to, since I read in English. Oxford, Penguin, and Modern Library have a lot of big name ancient texts more readily and affordably available. Loeb is for the more esoteric and more complete stuff--you can get Polybius or Appian or Cicero from Oxford or Penguin, but not in full. When I'm forced to buy Loeb because the more accessible text is incomplete, I still buy the latter because normal 30ish page intros from normal publishers tend to give a decent peek into the author in question, while recommending further primary sources and more extensive secondary sources; Loeb rarely has a >10 page intro.
Also even with Penguin and Oxford be careful to get the newest edition; across the board, publishers in English have acknowledged that Latin and Ancient Greek translations were often garbage until very recently. This makes buying used copies risky, especially online (like when you're not sure which Penguin edition you're actually going to get). Otherwise Penguin and Oxford are great, and Modern Library has the only non-Loeb complete edition of Plutarch's lives, so don't ignore them as a publisher for ancient works.
PS if money is an issue, hunt abebooks for Loebs. Sometimes you can get good deals; I got a used but unmarked set of Pliny for 60% off.
>>8113698
Loebs have been published for more than a century (since 1912). Some of the older ones are still good (e. g., Duff's translation of Lucan with a text based on Housman); some much less so (AS Way's versions of tragedy stick in my mind). Some old ones are simply out of date in scholarship or language, or reflect a tendency to expurgate that modern ones do not. Many have been replaced or revised, sometimes with much more content and information (e. g., Most and West's combined total of four new volumes replacing the old one-volume Hesiod, Homeric Hymns, and Homerica).
Loebs have also changed their focus. Originally, they were meant to be affordable editions providing original text, limited critical apparatus, and serviceable translations for a broad readership. Nowadays, as the audience for original language texts has shrunk, the Loebs aim at a more scholarly standard, which is reflected in texts, translations, and other matter.
The biggest advantages of Loeb remain quality of manufacture, and extensiveness: you will find not just texts that aren't readily or at all available in translation elsewhere, but also much fuller selections from fragmentary authors, such as the Greek lyric poets.
>>8113691
Well the Loeb books are all hardcover and pretty sturdy, though they've declined in quality since they started using glue binding instead of sewn binding.
Also what translations does Cambridge publish?
