John Hill's Masterpiece "The Vegetable System"

It's up for auction soon.

From a post on Art Fix Daily...

The complete series of John Hill’s masterpiece ”The Vegetable System,“ one of the 18th century's greatest and most elaborate botanical publications, is of outmost rarity. Carrying an estimate of € 80,000, the book will be called up at Ketterer Kunst in the auction of Rare Books in Hamburg on 23/24 May.

Twenty-six volumes with a total of 1544 colored copper plates deliver a comprehensive description of 26,000 different plants. Even the great Carl von Linné, founding father of modern taxonomy, was awestruck, he said: ”In the face of the magnificence of Hill’s work I almost fainted...“ (Henrey). John Hill dedicated his lifework, which led him to bankruptcy despite some financially strong sponsors, to the Prince of Wales, the later George III.