Page - 786 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 2

Chapter 14786 settlement of his debts, all this was to be divided unequally between Paolo and Tobia: the legitimate elder son Paolo should get two thirds, the legitimized younger son Tobia one-third. He moreover instituted them as each other’s heirs in case of their dying without issue and intestate. Strada also reserved the rents of his real estate, or a part of its proceeds if sold, for Tobia’s mainte- nance and education, stipulating however that in case any considerable sur- plus might remain, this would be used toward the printing of his books. The value he attached to this is moreover attested by his demand that Paolo would use all the donations received in exchange for the dedications of the works already published towards the printing of the remainder.133 All this suggests that his printing project was of greater importance to Strada than the future prosperity of his heirs. This is borne out by another odd stipula- tion in the will: should Tobia die before the proceeds from the presentation of Strada’s Musaeum would have materialized, his trustees should nevertheless use both Tobia’s legacy and his share in any forthcoming presents to undertake the printing programme, ‘in order that the labour and industry with which I wrote these books will not be in vain because the books remained unprinted’. Though Strada did envisage that the trustees would be paid for their trouble, it seems likely that it would be difficult to find trustees able and willing to take on that task.134 14.11 Conclusion: The Aftermath The clauses in Strada’s will obliging his heirs to finally print his books indicate the immense value he attached to his publication project, an importance far transcending any possible profit he initially may have expected from it. It is clear that by this time he considered this as his life’s work, his contribution to poster- ity, and he devoted the larger part of the last years of his life to it. It is difficult to judge in how far Strada had any confidence that his heirs would want and be able to execute his rather unrealistic last wishes; certainly he never ceased attempt- ing to realize at least part of his programme within his lifetime. Just a few months after he made his will Strada obtained from Emperor Rudolf ii a new copyright privilege for a number of the works mentioned in the Index sive catalogus: 133 Ibidem. Since the last books Strada had published had come out in 1575, this last stipula- tion must refer to books he was planning to publish at the time he was writing his will. 134 Ibidem; no trustees are appointed in the will, perhaps indicating that Strada as yet had found no one willing to shoulder that responsibility.