There's only a handful of comprehensive books on the psychology of smell; one of them is Smell: The Secret Seducer by Piet Vroon. It was originally published in Dutch in 1994, and the English translation is now almost ten years old. I included it in my list of five “must-have” books for beginners (December 2005), because it's properly researched, well-referenced, and easily accessible to a large public. It was a long time since I last browsed through it, so I dusted off my old copy of the Dutch original, hoping that I wouldn't be disappointed in retrospect. Here's what I found…
Perfume books: Le Parfum by Edmond Roudnitska
If you read French, you may be familiar with that excellent series of cheap booklets published by Presses Universitaires de France called “Que sais-je?”. Each volume in this encyclopaedic collection covers a specific subject, and the good news is: there's one about perfume too! None other than Edmond Roudnitska is the author of this little marvel, first published in 1980 and simply entitled Le Parfum. Unfortunately there's bad news too: it's not available in English.
Most generic perfume books focus on production methods, raw materials, and the history of perfumery. Roudnitska's approach is rather unique, in that he explores perfumery from an aesthetic point of view…
Caron by Jean-Marie Martin-Hattemberg ~ perfume book review
The story of modern perfumery would be incomplete without a chapter on Caron. It’s a name that evokes a world of sumptuousness and distinction, founded on an impressive list of classics ranging from Narcisse Noir (1911) to L’Anarchiste (2000). The history of one of the most venerable brands in perfumery is presented in this bilingual, lavishly illustrated monograph by Jean-Marie Martin-Hattemberg.
Caron was published six years ago, and is undoubtedly the most comprehensive book available on the subject. It covers a timespan of almost one century: from the early beginnings, with Ernest Daltroff and Félicie Wanpouille (1904), to the acquisition by current owner Patrick Alès (1998). It has all the characteristics of a coffee-table book, featuring stunning pictures of old bottles, powder boxes, poster ads, and other pretty specimens; but the luscious imagery aside, it paints a picture of real people, involved in a real business, against the backdrop of troubled times. The relationship between Ernest and Félicie plays a crucial role in the first part of the book, which at times reads like a romantic novel…
The Secret of Scent: Adventures in Perfume and the Science of Smell by Luca Turin
Understanding how smell works is a bit like trying to fix a radio, with the premise that a) you have little knowledge of its components, and b) the darn thing didn't come with a wiring diagram. For seven decades, scientists have explored the various components of the olfactory system, and how they are connected to each other. But despite their hard work, the fundamental question has remained unanswered: how does our nose 'read' odorant molecules? Biochemist and perfume connoisseur Luca Turin thinks he cracked the code, and wrote a book about it: The Secret of Scent.
If you've read Chandler Burr's The Emperor of Scent (2003), you're familiar with the basics of Turin's theory of olfaction…
Perfume books: Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins
“If desire causes suffering, it may be because we do not desire wisely, or that we are inexpert at obtaining what we desire. Instead of hiding our heads in a prayer cloth and building walls against temptation, why not get better at fulfilling desire? Salvation is for the feeble, that’s what I think. I don’t want salvation, I want life, all of life, the miserable as well as the superb.”
These words by Alobar, one of the protagonists of Jitterbug Perfume (1984), secretly reveal what this epic novel is all about. Four intricately interwoven stories, themed around the pursuit of immortality and individualism, take us from ancient Bohemia (1000 A.D.) and the slopes of the Himalaya to modern-day Seattle, New Orleans, and Paris. The narrative shifts back and forth between past and present, featuring an ex-king (Alobar) and the love of his life (Kudra), the foul-smelling God of the woods (Pan), a waitress with a college degree and a little secret (Priscilla), a small-time perfumery in New Orleans (Madame Devalier and her assistant V’lu), and an eccentric big-shot perfumer in Paris…