The printer, although he may have had a few customers in mind, had to speculate how many buyers might be found for 300, 500 or 1,000 copies, and where those buyers might be. Several hundred buyers would rarely be found in the same city: the market for a substantial Latin edition might well be dispersed around Europe. Underestimating demand would rob the printer of additional profit; overestimating demand was financially lethal, as investment had been sunk into unsaleable printed sheets.

Andrew Pettegree, Arthur der Weduwen, The Library- A Fragile Hist…, loc. 171