After several months of broad hints from my wife, I finally realized that this book might be an excellent choice for a christmas gift - and indeed it was.
It did have one unintended side effect, which was that she and the mother-in-law basically disappeared for three days while they read through the book. Needless to say, they enjoyed it thoroughly.
The quality of the book itself is excellent - well-bound with full color and well chosen photos, and the text is well written and edited. You learn a lot from reading it, too, particularly about the odd rules governing restoration work.
One word of warning for those who reside outside Australia: the book ships from Perth, Australia (not France) and the shipping does take a few weeks, so order in advance. The store itself gets the order out promptly, but this is not something that will arrive the next day, so plan ahead.