[SIBLY, Ebenezer (1751-1800, editor), Carl LINNAEUS (1707-78)], and others. [Volumes I - VII titled:] An Universal System of Natural History, including the Natural History of Man; The Orang-Outang; and Whole Tribe of Simia; all the known Quadrupeds, Birds, Fishes, and Amphibious Animals ... Forming a Magnificent View of the Three Kingdoms of Nature Divided into Distinct Parts, the Characters Separately Described, and Systematically Arranged [Volumes VIII - XIV titled:] A Genuine and Universal System of Natural History; Comprising Three Kingdoms of Animals, Vegetables, and Minerals, Arranged under their Respective Classes, Orders, Genera, and Species. By the late Sir Charles Linnæus ... Improv'd, Corrected, and Enlarged by J. Frid. Gmelin [etc., etc.]. London: Printed for the Proprietor, and Sold by Champante and Whitrow [with variants to the imprints in other vols.], [?1794-1808]. 14 volumes, 8vo (207 x 130mm). 401 engraved plates only ([?]of 424), of which 112 hand-coloured and 85 folding (vol. one lacking the engraved general title and two "zodiac" plates at the front called for in the list, also lacking the portrait of Linnæus in vol. VII, some variable light spotting, staining and browning, one plate detached, a few plates cropped, a few small holes, one plate torn with loss at corner, a few leaves torn without loss, Qq2 (text leaf) in vol. II with printing flaw). Very attractively bound in later half calf and marbled boards, spines gilt with red morocco lettering pieces stamped "Linnæus [sic] Natural History" (upper hinges of spine of last vol. broken, some ink spotting to a few spines, most pronounced to that of vol. VIII, lightly rubbed). Provenance: From the Collection of Professor Jonathan Brostoff, D.M., D.Sc., FRCP, FRCPath (1934-2020); some pencil annotation to a few leaves. The decision to colour some plates and not others seems to have been made quite arbitrarily throughout the set: for instance, vols. I and II have no coloured plates, whereas all the plates are coloured in vols. VIII and XIV. Most of the folding plates are coloured. In general, the proportion of coloured and folding plates increases in the later volumes. Individual volumes or short runs of the work occasionally appear at auction or in the trade; the full set of 14 volumes - as here - is rare, and, so far as we can see, unheard of with a full complement of plates. Since many of the volumes are lacking their list of plates, and we have been unable to locate a detailed collation for the work, it is, with regret, sold as a collection of plates, not subject to return. (14)
