Leaving his professional duties to a deputy, he left England for Göttingen and Vienna, in preparation for a botanical tour of Greece (1786) and Cyprus (1787).

[5] He made a second journey to Greece, but developed consumption on the way home and died in Bath on 8 February 1796.

[3] He was buried at Bath Abbey, with a monument carved by John Flaxman which includes a garland of Sibthorpia europaea.

[3] The work's first edition ran to a mere thirty copies and featured 966 colour plates; a supplementary volume depicting wildflowers of Corfu was painted for Frederick North, 5th Earl of Guilford, and founder of the Ionian Academy, by G. Scola (or Scala), a talented botanical illustrator.

Current and previous holders include Sibthorp was born in Oxford, the youngest son of Humphry Sibthorp (1713–1797), who, from 1747 to 1784, served as Sherardian Professor of Botany at the University of Oxford and his first wife Sarah Waldo.