This splendidly produced work is one of the most imposing publications on medical plants ever produced. It was published in eight large folio volumes with 758 hand-coloured engraved plates. The plants are depicted in their natural size, why some of the delightful and decorative plates are large fold-outs. Plenck’s Icones, dedicated to Joseph II, belongs to the highlights of the famous Viennese school of botanical illustration that flourished at the end of the eighteenth century.