Hundreds of "superbly scientific" artworks have been acquired by the State Library of Victoria, completing one of the most significant collections of early Australian botany.

Known as the Banks' Florilegium, the works complete the library's collection of botanical illustrations which, in the 1700s, first introduced Australia's flora to European eyes.

Purchased from a London rare books dealer, the works depicting Australian flora complete the set of 738 coloured prints held by the State Library.

Each individually mounted, the illustrations were printed using the original copper plates made following the return of James Cook's voyage to Australia and the Pacific aboard HMS Endeavour.

"They really are delicate, beautifully engraved images that speak to us across centuries," said State Library history of the book manager Des Cowley. "It's a thrill to look at them, as they're not a reproduction of something done a long time ago. They are directly linked to the work done by [Joseph] Banks at the time."

The prints were created using the detailed drawings of Sydney Parkinson, a young Scotsman who accompanied James Cook and Joseph Banks on their voyage around the Pacific between 1769 and 1771.

A talented natural history draughtsman, Parkinson died from dysentery contracted in Batavia and was buried at sea during the return journey. Following his death, a dispute between Parkinson's brother, Stanfield, and Joseph Banks over who would publish first saw Parkinson's work go unattributed in the official account of the voyage.

"In many ways Parkinson was written out of this story and this is the first time this edition attributes, in each engraving, the artist Sydney Parkinson," Mr Cowley said. "He has been rewritten back into a story he was so much a part of."

The hand-coloured prints will be on display at the State Library as part of rare book week from June 30 to July 9.

Banksias, acacias, eucalyptus and grevilleas are among the plants Parkinson sketched after stopping at points along Australia's east coast. All of them were new to science.

The prints depicting Australian species, which make up the Banks' Florilegium, were the missing pieces of the library's collection.

Originally purchased by the state of Victoria in the 1980s not long after they were published for the first time, the collection was split between two institutions. The National Herbarium of Victoria received the prints of Australian species and the State Library became home to the prints of the Pacific plants illustrated during the Endeavour's voyage.  

The complete set weighs over half a ton and having been purchased earlier this year will be divided so the library and herbarium can each have a complete set.

Mr Cowley said there were many theories as to why it took until the 1980s to print the complete works from the copper plates for the first time, including that Banks' career soared upon his return and other projects overtook his attention.

The copper plates, prepared at Banks' expense, took 13 years to make. Held by the British Museum, the first complete Florilegium of 737 prints were made between 1980-1990. Just 110 copies of the full collection were produced.