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Show 104 Finding a publisher willing to take on publication depended upon the marketability of the book. However, Maximilian's determination that Travels must make the fullest use of Bodmer's works-eighty-one labor-intensive aquatints produced in folio, rather than a more modest selection of subjects reproduced in smaller format and in a less-expensive medium-made it impossible for Maximilian to find a publisher willing to accept financial responsibility for Travels. In the end, Maximilian underwrote its publication himself. The choice for a deluxe publication set up conflicting goals for the project, at once requiring a large subscription list to finance the venture, but at the same time restricting subscriptions because of the exorbitant price necessary to cover production costs. Maximilian assumed that sufficient subscribers could be found, as they had been for Brazil. However, the ambitious scope of the publication, necessarily directed to a very limited audience, guaranteed financial disaster for Travels. These conflicting goals were at the heart of Maximilian's large financial loss. Nonetheless, the decision to emphasize the visual and artistic, relying upon the obvious quality of the illustrations for the journey, was ultimately the choice that in the future would set Travels apart from other works of its kind, would prove so invaluable to later historians and ethnologists, and would make Travels one of the last great aquatint travelbooks. The format chosen for Travels allowed the fullest visual record of the expedition and, although few individuals could afford to purchase copies, most of the volumes and illustrations eventually found their way to libraries and museums that were accessible to scholars, thus allowing the illustrations |