Seite - 95 - in Wiener Jahrbuch für Kunstgeschichte, Band LIX

Fischer von Erlach’s Entwurff einer historischen Architectur 95 book in which he published the foreword to the Prospecte und Abrisse, which has been used to demonstrate earlier editions of the latter work.21 It is also difficult to accept that Fischer would have had title and dedication pages engraved – with dates – if he thought publication was years away. However, the relative flexibility of the Ro- man numeral system meant that a date of 1710 (MDCCX) on the title page could have been eas- ily adjusted simply by adding on to it. Indeed, this date is probably not to be taken literally. A number of the prints had already been produced by Benjamin Kenckel, but the title page was en- graved by Johann Adam Delsenbach, who came to Vienna only at the end of 1710 after travels in northern Germany.22 He produced at least twelve plates that were included in the manuscript ver- sion less than two years later. This quick produc- tion implies that Fischer had drawings ready to engrave, with little or no unfinished antiquarian work for these images.23 The date given on the Tessins’ dedication page – 1712 (MDCCXII) – was more restrictive, since it could not be extend- ed past 1714 (MDCCXIIII) without burnishing and recutting the plate. This, more than the title page, implies the expectation of imminent pub- lication, which would thus have preceded the actual publication date by nearly a decade. At this point, Fischer had a fully-developed concept for the work and most of the images. By his own standards, there was more than enough material to justify an edition, which might be expanded in the future. This would also help explain the confession in the 1712 dedication (in both the printed and manuscript variants) that the work was “still unfinished”: This remained in the un- revised dedication included in the 1721 edition, now justified by the notation in the application for publishing privilege that ninety-five plates were foreseen, nine more than were in fact pro- duced.24 Presumably the outstanding sheets were to include images of Gothic and Japanese archi- tecture, promised on the title page but never pro- duced. While it is thus possible that there was a small edition for which we have no concrete re- cord, there are stronger reasons to believe that there was not. In the months before the 1721 edition became available, Fischer applied for an imperial privilege for the work. Around the same time he put out a public notice describ- ing the work, and specifying where it could be purchased in Vienna, Prague, Breslau, Berlin, Leipzig, Nuremberg, Hamburg and Hannover.25 He was eager both to make the work available and to protect his interest in it. This implies rela- tively formal public records that should be trace- able, but we have no such notices for an earlier edition. More significantly, Heraeus made every indication to Carl Gustaf Tessin that the work had not yet appeared in any form. It is therefore likely that Fischer intended to publish an edition around this time, but was in- terrupted. We can only speculate on what might have interfered with publication plans, but sev- eral circumstances stand out. If he planned a preliminary edition for 1710–1712, the sudden death of Joseph I in April 1711 may have caused 21 Heraeus, Vermischte Neben=Arbeiten (cit. n. 20), unpaginated. The text is substantially different from the dedica- tion in the 1712 manuscript. For Heraeus’s foreword for the views of Vienna, see Lorenz/Weigl, Das barocke Wien (cit. n. 19), p. 11. 22 For Delsenbach’s autobiographical sketch, see H. Zirnbauer, Johann Adam Delsenbach, in: G. Pfeiffer (ed.) Fränkische Lebensbilder, vol. II, Würzburg 1968, pp. 290–332. 23 This has long been assumed of the surviving drawings for the Entwurff, many of which survive in the National- and University Library in Zagreb, though most of these cannot be dated very precisely. See Prange, Entwurf und Phan- tasie (cit. n. 1). 24 Schmidt, Die Architekturbücher der beiden Fischer von Erlach (cit. n. 1), p. 152. 25 These are published in: Schmidt, Die Architekturbücher der beiden Fischer von Erlach (cit. n. 1), pp. 149–150.