Oxford Classical Texts

Oxford Classical Texts (OCT), or Scriptorum Classicorum Bibliotheca Oxoniensis, is a series of books published by <a href="/facts/Oxford_University_Press/CYyTzzWG">Oxford University Press</a>. It contains texts of <a href="/facts/Ancient_Greek/LIK7NlUh">ancient Greek</a> and <a href="/facts/Latin/pM3Kge85">Latin</a> literature, such as <a href="/facts/Homer/Xw8Ur53U">Homer</a>'s <a href="/facts/Odyssey/tVTrA6nu">Odyssey</a> and <a href="/facts/Virgil/K9zjwwHS">Virgil</a>'s <a href="/facts/Aeneid/s75oF7LS">Aeneid</a>, in the original language with a <a href="/facts/Critical_apparatus/busroV7E">critical apparatus</a>. Works of science and mathematics, such as <a href="/facts/Euclid/dHpVyL4R">Euclid</a>'s <a href="/facts/Euclid%2527s_Elements/nPKvCIxs">Elements</a>, are generally not represented. Since the books are meant primarily for serious students of the classics, the prefaces and notes have traditionally been in Latin (so that the books are written in the classical languages from the title page to the index), and no translations or explanatory notes are included. Several recent volumes, beginning with <a href="/facts/Hugh_Lloyd-Jones/MVB3Jn6C">Lloyd-Jones</a> and Wilson's 1990 edition of <a href="/facts/Sophocles/5C4zjFU8">Sophocles</a>, have broken with tradition and feature introductions written in English (though the critical apparatus is still in Latin).
In format, Oxford Classical Texts have always been published in British <a href="/facts/Octavo/6F25A0nu">Crown octavo</a> (7½ by 5¼ inches). Initially they were produced in three formats: Cloth, the standard style, bound in dark blue or black cloth bindings; Interleaved, for scholars and students, where each pair of printed leaves had a blank leaf bound between them for the scholar's notes, also bound in dark blue or black cloth; and India paper, for travellers and readers, printed on strong, thin <a href="/facts/India_paper/srpPClnf">India paper</a> and bound in dark red cloth bindings. However, by the 1950s, only standard cloth editions were in general issue, though some interleaved copies were still produced into the 1960s.
Oxoniensis is an adjective used mainly to denote a single volume of the series (fully: editio Oxoniensis), rarely the whole collection; correspondingly, Teubneriana is used with reference to the <a href="/facts/Bibliotheca_Teubneriana/L96LC0Su">Bibliotheca Scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana</a>, a series with the same aim as the OCT. The <a href="/facts/Loeb_Classical_Library/AIRXBouP">Loeb Classical Library</a>, which includes facing <a href="/facts/English_language/tpkxGt7b">English</a> translations with sparse critical notes, is aimed at a more general audience, as is the <a href="/facts/Collection_Bud%25C3%25A9/q1U1aL3T">Collection Budé</a>, which includes <a href="/facts/French_language/qe1DnaQh">French</a> translations and more substantial commentary.

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Oxford Classical Texts