bouda

Hi, I've run into this problem before and have to say that Ebay/Amazon is probably your best bet. Don't shun the internet retailers; they're actually pretty useful!

That said, here are some other places I've found foreign language books:

- used bookstores. Smallest chance ever, but if you have a good secondhand bookstore by you, you might want to check them out to see if they have a German/Russian/whatever section anyway. I once found a copy of Aristophanes' The Birds and some Demosthenes at such a place - both in Ancient Greek, of course. If you hope to have ANY luck with classic languages with this method, I recommend finding one of those really old rare books places - depending on what you find, your books might actually not set you back that much after all, and I find that these places are better for classics. However, it must be said that this method is really one of luck, so don't go in with high hopes for pay-off.

- Online. If you're willing to scroll through websites rather than flipping pages, there are multiple sites online where you can find books in foreign languages, especially classic texts (no copyright on untranslated Sophocles!).

- But by the far the best place I've found for foreign language texts is your local university. This trick works best with well-funded, large universities - I've had bad luck with small LACs, for instance, and very good luck with Ivies. Check out your local university's campus bookstore and see if they have any foreign language books. I live near an especially prestigious Ivy, and they have a huge room filled mostly with Romance language texts and a wall of Loeb (which is probably what you'll look for for Classic languages). University libraries are also a good place to check books out, if you have those privileges.

I hope one or more of these suggestions are of some help, but I'm afraid that in the end your question is a hard one to answer without living in and knowing the particulars of your area! I wish you luck.