Lugduni [Lyon], Bernuset, Delamollière, Falque et Soc., 1796. Two volumes in two. 8vo (21.0 x 13.1 cm). 1701 pp. [xl, 884; 885-1661]. Uniform contemporary quarter calf over marbled boards. Spines with gilt bands and title.

A seldom-seen edition, edited by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin (1748-1804), who also edited the 13th edition of Linnaeus's Systema naturae. The second volume is a continuation (also in page numbering) and - therefore - has a half-title only. Discrete armorial bookplate of the Barante library on the front pastedowns. Amable-Guillaume-Prosper Brugière, Baron de Barante (1782-1866), was a French historian, writer and politician who amassed a very large bibliophile library in his castle near Clermont-Ferrand. The French poet, Anatole France called him an " Homme de beaucoup de tact, de sens et de finesse". An excellent, clean set. Soulsby, 601.