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 5 December 2011.
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
Barnes, David S; The Great Stink of Paris and the Nineteenth-Century Struggle against Filth and Germs
Blackson, Robert; If There Ever Was… a book of extinct and impossible smells
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
Chuang, Della; KyotEau: Bottled Memories
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
de Feydeau, Elisabeth; Diptyque
Dove, Roja; The Essence of Perfume
Drobnick, Jim (ed); The Smell Culture Reader
Dyhouse, Carol; Glamour: Women, History, Feminism
Edwards, Michael; Perfume Legends: French feminine fragrances
Ellena, Jean-Claude; Journal d’un Parfumeur
Ellena, Jean-Claude; Le Parfum (French)
Fellous, Colette; Guerlain
Gilbert, Avery; What the Nose Knows: The Science of Scent in Everyday Life
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
Hamilton, Denise; Damage Control
Herz, Rachel; The Scent of Desire: Discovering Our Enigmatic Sense of Smell
Huysmans, Joris-Karl; Against Nature
Johnson, Jacqueline; Classic Perfume Advertising 1920-1970
Julien, Mariette; L’image publicitaire des parfums (French)
Kaufman, William; Perfume
Kemp, Percy; Musc (French)
Le Guérer, Annick; Once Upon a Time…Perfume
Le Guérer, Annick; Sur Les Routes de L’Encens (French)
Lyttelton, Celia; The Scent Trail
Martin-Hattemberg, Jean-Marie; Caron
Mazzeo, Tilar; The Secret of Chanel No. 5: The Intimate History of the World’s Most Famous Perfume
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
Scribner, Keith; The Oregon Experiment
Sell, Charles (ed); The Chemistry of Fragrances
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
Thomas, Dana; Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster
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
Beaulieu, Denyse; The Perfume Lover (book announcement)
Blodgett, Bonnie; Remembering Smell: A Memoir of Losing — and Discovering — the Primal Sense (link to radio interview, book club)
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)
Edwards, Michael. Fragrances of the World 2009. (brief announcement)
Edwards, Michael. Fragrances of the World 2010. (brief announcement)
Edwards, Michael. Fragrances of the World 2011. (brief announcement)
Edwards, Michael. Fragrances of the World 2012. (brief announcement)
Ellena, Jean-Claude. Perfume: The Alchemy of Scent. (brief announcement)
Herz, Rachel; The Scent of Desire: Discovering Our Enigmatic Sense of Smell (link to radio interview)
Malle, Frédéric; On Perfume Making (brief announcement)
Osmoz; Paris Parfum: The Fragrance Guide to Paris (brief announcement)
Pasco, Eva. Underlying Notes. (book announcement)
Quintessentially Publishing. Quintessentially Perfume. (book announcement)
Rosen, Marc. Glamour Icons: Perfume Bottle Design. (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, quarterly updates, Second quarterly update, Third Quarterly Update, Paperback Version: Perfumes: The A-Z Guide)
Turin, Luca and Tania Sanchez; The Little Book of Perfumes: The Hundred Classics. (book announcement, Q&A, part 1)
