David Austin covers old garden roses and his English roses in this earlier publication of his. He offers valuable descriptions and reviews of the old roses as well as explaining how he used the old roses as a foundation for his new group of roses--and what his goals are in creating the English Roses. A beautiful book that links the past, present and future of roses from Mr. Austin's own perspective. There are certainly more recent books on the English Roses that include more of the newer varieties, but this volume remains valuable for both the heritage rose information as well as the thorough descriptions of some of the older English Roses no longer carried by Mr. Austin--especially valuable for the collector interested in these roses.