New books smell great. There’s something mysteriously seductive about that lovely scent of pencils and printed paper, lingering in the air of quiet bookstores. Books about perfume are not the most pleasant ones; for that matter, I’d much rather bury my nose in a leafy foreign dictionary, or in some classic novel with a heavy, cardboard cover. There is, however, one notable exception: a scratch-n-sniff book entitled Sur les routes de l’encens (“on the trail of incense”), written by Annick Le Guérer and produced in collaboration with Dominique Ropion and IFF. The book is a fragrant journey through time, revolving around a series of ancient expeditions: it takes us back to the banks of the river Nile, the Arab and Persian worlds, classical times in Rome, Marco Polo’s travels to China, and the East Indies spice trade in the 17th century…

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