Paris, Guillot [and] Metz, Claude Lamort, 1785-1789-[1790]. In ten volumes [1-8 and two supplements, numbered 9-10]. 4to (25.8 x 20.4 cm). Engraved portrait of Miller, allegorical frontispiece, and two identical copies of the same bird's eye view (all four finely hand-coloured); 6648 pp.; 34 engraved plates in fine, contemporary hand-colouring (for a total of 37 different full-page plates, and one - a bird's eye view - double); several woodcut head- and tailpieces. Uniform contemporary half calf over marbled boards. Spines with five, weakly-raised bands and two morocco labels (burgundy and green) with gilt ornamental borders and title. All edges speckled red.

A very rare, deluxe and complete set, including the much later published supplement, with nine more plates and a second frontispiece, also entirely in very fine, contemporary hand-colouring. The plates show flowering plants, mostly, but also hothouses, grinding tools, etc. A detailed breakdown of the text and plates is as follows: I: 586, [ii] pp.; II: 760; III: 638; IV: 644, ii; V: 642; VI: 598; VII: 608; VIII: 279, 222, [i], 43, 43, 52, 55; IX (Supp. I): ix, 732 pp.; X (Supp. II): 759. [I: 8 plates (plus portrait, frontispiece, and first view); II: 0; III: 2; IV: 0; V: 2; VI: 8; VII: 2; VIII: 3; IX (Supp. I): 4 (plus second view); X (Supp. II): 5 plates. Stafleu and Cowan list one plate in Vol. V, seven in Vol. VI, and none in Vol. VIII, whereas our set has two, eight, and three, respectively. Translated and expanded by the French botanist Laurent Marie de Chazelles (1724-1808). The British botanist, gardener, and agronomist Philip Miller (1691-1771) was chief gardener at the Chelsea Physic Garden for nearly 50 years, from 1722. Hand-coloured copies are very rarely seen. One sold in auction in 2020 lacked the supplements. Another, auctioned in 2010, lacked a plate. A 1786 Brussels edition does not include any of the 1789-1790 supplements. In the top outer margin of the title page, and on half-title versos an old private library stamp of A. Barthelemy. A few pages a bit toned, an occasional, marginal spot, but generally in an excellent condition. Pritzel, 6237; Stafleu and Cowan, 6051, 6061 (the supplements). Not in Nissen.