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Show 102 black and white and chine colle.31 This paper was slightly coarser in texture and whiter in color than the more expensive imperial vellum, but both were the heavy wove thought by artists to be best for copperplate etchings because of their even and soft texture.32 Why did Maximilian choose to publish his scientific account of the expedition as a deluxe travelbook? Certainly, he could have published some of his findings in a scientific journal. However, Maximilian--as many other naturalist explorers had done-chose to direct his book to the general public. This audience was readily accessible by using the traditional travelbook format, in which descriptions of a journey through an exotic and picturesque land were combined with observations on the customs, costume, and sport of its inhabitants. The best of these travelbooks had always been illustrated to satisfy more fully the public's craving for the unknown. In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, aquatint illustrations had commonly been used for these travelbooks, because the medium so closely approximated watercolor. These illustrations varied in quality, both because the illustrations were dependent upon the quality of the paintings they duplicated and also upon the skill of the etchers who translated the images on to the copperplates. Twenty years previously, Maximilian had published the account of his expedition to Brazil, which had sold by subscription very successfully.33 Brazil had been a relatively modest publication, in which illustrations, based upon Maximilian's own drawings but redrawn by his brother and sister, had been interleaved within the text. Maximilian intended that the scope of Travels be very different. His choice was understandable; Maximilian's belief that the illustrations for his scientific expedition to Brazil had been inadequate |