Comments on: If There Ever Was… a book of extinct and impossible smells, by Robert Blackson ~ perfume books

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 21:37:00 +0000

Yes, there could actually be a market for specific “scent memories”!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 21:20:00 +0000

Thanks for clarifying, Marianne!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 21:12:00 +0000

It's a very interesting idea, but I agree that basing compositions on generalities could be less interesting than on particulars, our specific and personal scent memories. That may just become a popular new genre. Like a poetry of olfaction…

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 19:54:00 +0000

Yes that 'brown' lignite. It is a very peculiar and specific smell. And causes the worst air pollution too.

In the Netherlands they used black lignite in the '50s and before and that had a different smell.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 18:55:00 +0000

You mean burning lignite? From heating? Many houses have coal boilers and yes, the smell is almost everywhere. In winter I mean. I'm so used to it I usually don't notice it anymore.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 14:53:00 +0000

My pleasure, Marianne! Lignite… I'm not sure there was any of that stuff in my childhood in the Netherlands, but I do recall learning about it in school.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 13:37:00 +0000

I have lived in the Czech Rep. for a few years and have some more months to go and one smell is very particularly present at the countryside far away from modern places and that is the smell of lignite! That is a very particular heady scent and it seems to be everywhere, in each street, each room, even on the surrounding lands.

Lignite plus boiled cabbage form a very partiular combination.

Thank you Marcello for your review of this book, very interesting material.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 09:18:00 +0000

My pleasure, Joe. It seems that olfactory exhibitions are indeed becoming more common, especially in big cities like London and New York. I've read about five or six of them in the past two years.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 09:07:00 +0000

It's a shame those scents won't last forever. Just out of curiosity: what does your copy smell like when you “fan” the pages of the book?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 04:52:00 +0000

I'm not sure that I'll actually ever buy the book, but I'm incredibly riveted by your review of it and the comment discussion here. Thank you, Marcello. I love exactly this type of discussion and projects exploring the intersection of culture and art — especially artistic abstraction. I would very much welcome more exhibitions of olfactory art; it's not something I hear much about, but maybe it's starting to become more common in some cities. A project like this reminds me also that museums and various types of art (dependent on media and origin) often have quite evocative and unique smells. Again, very intriguing. Thanks.