Page - 787 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Volume 2

787Ambitions as a Publisher – a series of the Roman Emperors, their consorts and other relatives illustrat- ed by their coins (Index sive catalogus, item 49) – the seven volumes of inscriptions (item 3) – Strada’s collection of descriptions of all ancient coins he had studied (item  4), accompanied by another voluminous volume of numismatic draw- ings of all ancient rulers, including those of Rome (item 5) – the battle order of the Romans and their castrametatio according to Poly- bius (item 12); – Photius’ Biblioteca (item 21) – the expanded Latin edition of Leandro Alberti’s Description of Italy (item  44) – an edition of Wolfgang Lazius twelve books of comments on the history of the Provinces of the Roman Empire (item 46) – and finally the biography of the Emperor Charles v illustrated by a huge number of coins and medals documenting his reign (item 18).135 When Strada again offered his house for sale two years later, he explained that it was inconvenient for him to live in Vienna, because he had a task in hand which took up much of his time, for a prolonged period. It seems reasonable to assume that he referred to a planned absence in Nuremberg or Frankfurt to work on his books, to have their illustrations engraved, and to manage their printing, though it is not known whether he did in fact leave Vienna.136 To raise the necessary funds for his projects Strada remained eager to con- vert at least some of his possessions in ready cash. Thus his contacts in early summer of 1585 with Václav Březan, the archivist, librarian and historiogra- pher of the Rožmberk family, indicates that he made a last effort to sell part of his collection to his old patron.137 When this attempt miscarried, he asked the Landmarschall (Lord-lieutenant) of Lower Austria, Hans Wilhelm von Roggen- dorf, to offer his house and his collections for sale to the members of the local 135 The descriptions do not always match those in the Index exactly. The most interest- ing item in the privilege is the A.A.A. numismatωn ΔΙAΣΚΕΝΗΝ, hoc est Chaldaeorum, Arabum, Lybicorum, Graecorum, Hetruscorum ac Macedoniae, Asiae, Syriae, Aegypti, Sycu- lorum, Latinorum seu Romanroum regum a primordio urbis, dein consulum<…>tam sub caesaribus<…>imperatoribus<…>metallicarum iconum explicationum, the title and de- scription of which largely corresponds to Strada’s manuscripts volumes of coin descrip- tions, sets of which are preserved in Vienna and Prague. 136 Strada’s request of 3 December 1586 to the Landmarschall of Lower Austria: ‘weillen mir aber andere gelegenhait fürfallen, das ich alhie zue wonnen mir ungelegensamb ist, dann ich ain werckh underhandten, darzue ich vill und lange zeit bedarff’ (Doc. 1586-03-12). His departure may have been conditional on the sale of the house, which did not materialize, or another financial windfall. 137 For (the concept of) the letter by Březan, see Doc. 1585-06-02.