Perfume Books

This page lists perfume book reviews and book announcements on Now Smell This. If you're new to the subject, check out Building a fragrance library: five "must-have" books for beginners and Building a fragrance library: five suggestions for advanced readers.

You can find an extensive bibliography of perfume books at Scented Pages.

Last updated on 17 April 2008.

Perfume Book Reviews

The original books are in English unless otherwise noted (all reviews are written in English).

Ackerman, Diane; A Natural History of the Senses

Aftel, Mandy; Essence and Alchemy: A Natural History of Perfume

Barillé, Elisabeth; Guerlain

Barillé, Elisabeth and Catherine Laroze; The Book of Perfume

Burr, Chandler; The Emperor of Scent: A Story of Perfume, Obsession, and the Last Mystery of the Senses

Burr, Chandler; The Perfect Scent: A Year Behind the Scenes of the Perfume Industry in Paris and New York.

Calvino, Italo; Under the Jaguar Sun: The Name, the Nose

Classen, Constance, David Howes & Anthony Synnott; Aroma: The Cultural History of Smell

Corbin, Alain; The Foul and the Fragrant: Odor and the French Social Imagination

Drobnick, Jim (ed); The Smell Culture Reader

Edwards, Michael; Perfume Legends: French feminine fragrances

Ellena, Jean-Claude; Le Parfum (French)

Godfrey-June, Jean; Free Gift With Purchase

Grasse, Marie-Christine, Elisabeth de Feydeau, Freddy Ghozland; L'un des sens : Le parfum au XXe siècle (French)

Grasse, Marie-Christine et al.; Une histoire mondiale du parfum : des origines à nos jours (French)

Groom, Nigel; The Perfume Companion: A Connoisseur's Guide

Herz, Rachel; The Scent of Desire: Discovering Our Enigmatic Sense of Smell

Huysmans, Joris-Karl; Against Nature

Julien, Mariette; L'image publicitaire des parfums (French)

Kaufman, William; Perfume

Kemp, Percy. Musc (French)

Le Guérer, Annick; Sur Les Routes de L'Encens (French)

Martin-Hattemberg, Jean-Marie; Caron

Morris, Edwin; Scents of Time: Perfume From Ancient Egypt to the 21st Century

Newman, Cathy; Perfume: The Art and Science of Scent

Pavia, Fabienne; The World of Perfume

Robert, Guy; Les sens du parfum (French)

Robbins, Tom; Jitterbug Perfume

Roudnitska, Edmond; Le Parfum (French)

Sagarin, Edward; The Science and Art of Perfumery

Société Française des Parfumeurs; Classification des Parfums et Terminologie (bilingual French & English)

Stamelman, Richard; Perfume: Joy, Obsession, Scandal, Sin

Süskind, Patrick; Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (see also: review of the Perfume movie)

Theophrastus: Enquiry into Plants

Tonatto, Laura and Alessandra Montrucchio; Storia di un naso (Italian)

Turin, Luca and Tania Sanchez; Perfumes: The Guide

Turin, Luca; The Secret of Scent: Adventures in Perfume and the Science of Smell

Vigarello, Georges; Concepts of Cleanliness

Vroon, Piet, Anton van Amerongen and Hans de Vries; Smell: The Secret Seducer

Perfume Book Announcements & News

Burr, Chandler, The Perfect Scent (book announcement)

Dean, Peggy; Sarbez: The Renaissance Of A Fragrance (brief announcement)

de Feydeau, Elisabeth; Diptyque (brief announcement)

de Feydeau, Elisabeth; A Scented Palace (brief blurb)

Dove, Roja; The Essence of Perfume (book announcement)

Durruty, Veronique and Patrick Guedj; Afrique en Parfums (brief announcement)

Edwards, Michael. Fragrances of the World 2008. (brief announcement)

Herz, Rachel; The Scent of Desire: Discovering Our Enigmatic Sense of Smell (link to radio interview)

Pasco, Eva. Underlying Notes. (book announcement)

Stamelman, Richard; Perfume: Joy, Obsession, Scandal, Sin. (link to radio interview)

Turin, Luca and Tania Sanchez; Perfumes: The Guide (book announcement, link to review in New Yorker, Q&A with, part 1, Q&A with, part 2)