Elisabeth Barille's Guerlain is a thin volume, with 15 pages of text and about 50 pages of photographs. The text provides background on the history of the Guerlain family and their illustrious perfume house, but a die-hard perfume fanatic may find it too brief and general to be of much interest. There is a chronology at the end, but it lacks a complete list of the Guerlain fragrances, and some of the picture selections are rather odd. There are pictures, for instance, of Marlene Dietrich, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, and Catherine Deneuve — all of which tie in to the story in one way or another, but given the abbreviated length, I would have preferred to see more pictures of Guerlain family members, perfume bottles, or vintage Guerlain advertising.

Guerlain completists will probably want to own it anyway. According to the publisher, Assouline, the English language version is now out of print, but like everything else, you can probably find it on ebay if you are patient.

See also: The Book of Perfume by Elisabeth Barille & Catherine Laroze