Plates only, text not present. 281 (of 286) hand-colored copper-engraved plates, several containing multiple images and with 2 or three plate numbers on a single sheet. (Oblong 4to) 9½x14¼, modern half morocco and marbled boards. Plates apparently removed from the 4 text volumes and bound together in the present arrangement, bound at the bottom edge of sheets. 13 plates loose at rear, apparently missed by the binders thread. Many figures identified in manuscript in a contemporary hand. First Edition.

The present set of plates is the only known set with hand-coloring. A nearly complete set of plates from Gmelin's Flora Sibirica, lacking only 5 plates. A very rare work, the last two volumes of which were published posthumously by Gmelin’s nephew Samuel. Gmelin, along with other men of science, participated in the Great North Expedition, the most ambitious Russian scientific project before the 19th century. The text (not present here) contains descriptions of 1178 species and represents the most important early botanical contribution to the vast Siberian mainland. "In his preface to the Flora sibirica Gmelin gave a remarkable overall picture of the nature of central Sibiria, pointing out that western Siberia looks very much like eastern Europe, but that after crossing the Yenisey River he had the impression of being in another continent" (DSB 5:428). Plate 41 of volume III was never published. "Fundamental work on Siberian plants" (Hunt). Hunt 531; Nissen BBI 721.