Peter Beales - 'Classic Roses' ISBN 1 86046 303 7. OK, it's not a new book but I
didn't buy it first time around and regretted it. It is now being sold by
http://www.psbooks.co.uk/ at £12.99 (cover price £25.00)

It's a must for anybody who wants more than the 'Rose Expert'.
Because it's Peter Beales writing, Old Roses and shrub roses get a fuller
treatment than modern varieties but they are in there in plenty for most
people. This is probably the most accessible of the 'big Rose Books': no formal
botanical language but he isn't talking down to the reader and the photos are
good enough to use in identification. About 48 pages on history and origins of
garden roses, a similar size section on their use in the garden, about 450
pages of Dictionary with brief descriptions of cultivars and species, their
habits, disease tolerance etc. Top that with brief but lucid accounts of
cultivation, propagation (including commercial nursery practice) and a good
bibilography.

What more can I say?

Mankind has been growing, breeding and writing about roses for at least 5000
years. Peter Beales has distilled all of that and his lifetime experience of
growing and studying roses into a beautiful and readable book that anybody can
buy for £12.99.

BTW I like it:-)

And I don't have shares in Postscript or Peter Beales' nursery.

---
Rod
http://website.lineone.net/%7Erodcraddock/index.html
My email address needs weeding.