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 4 June 2019.
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; Aroma: The Magic of Essential Oils in Food & Fragrance
Aftel, Mandy; Essence and Alchemy: A Natural History of Perfume
Aftel, Mandy; Fragrant: The Secret Life of Scent
Aftel, Mandy; The Art of Flavor: Practices and Principles for Creating Delicious Food
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
Berwin, Margot; Scent of Darkness
Blackson, Robert; If There Ever Was… a book of extinct and impossible smells
Brown, Kate Lord; The Perfume Garden
Burr, Chandle; Dior: The Perfumes
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
Chabbert, Sabine and Laurence Férat; Rare Perfumes / Parfums Rares
Chapman, Neil; Perfume: In Search of Your Signature Scent
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
de Feydeau, Elisabeth; A Scented Palace: The Secret History of Marie Antoinette’s Perfumer
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 (French; published in English as The Diary of a Nose)
Ellena, Jean-Claude; Le Parfum (French)
Ellena, Jean-Claude; Perfume: The Alchemy of Scent
Ellena, Jean-Claude; The Diary of a Nose: A Year in the Life of a Parfumeur
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
Herman, Barbara; Scent & Subversion: Decoding a Century of Provocative Perfume
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, Christopher; Floating Gold: A Natural (& Unnatural) History of Ambergris
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
Malle, Frédéric; On Perfume Making
Malone, Jo; My Story
Martin-Hattemberg, Jean-Marie; Caron
Mazzeo, Tilar; The Secret of Chanel No. 5: The Intimate History of the World’s Most Famous Perfume
McCoy, Anya; Homemade Perfume.
Molloy, Clara & Carine Soyer; 22 Perfumers.
Moran, Jan; Scent of Triumph
Morris, Edwin; Scents of Time: Perfume From Ancient Egypt to the 21st Century
Newman, Cathy; Perfume: The Art and Science of Scent
Nez Magazine; Sentir, Ressentir (Smell, Feel)
Oehler, John; Aphrodesia
Ostrum, Lizzie; Perfume: A Century of Scents
Pavia, Fabienne; The World of Perfume
Robert, Guy; Les sens du parfum (French)
Robbins, Tom; Jitterbug Perfume
Rose, MJ; The Book of Lost Fragrances
Rose, MJ: The Collector of Dying Breaths
Rosen, Marc; Glamour Icons: Perfume Bottle Design
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)
Tessaro, Kathleen; The Perfume Collector
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; Folio Columns: 2003-2014
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
Williams, Tessa; Cult Perfumes
Perfume Book Announcements & News
Aftel, Mandy; Fragrant: The Secret Life of Scent (book announcement)
Alavi, Dariush; Le Snob: Perfume (book announcement)
Beaulieu, Denyse; The Perfume Lover (book announcement, Q & A, US edition)
Berwin, Margot; Scent of Darkness (book announcement)
Blodgett, Bonnie; Remembering Smell: A Memoir of Losing — and Discovering — the Primal Sense (link to radio interview, book club)
Burr, Chandle; Dior: The Perfumes (book announcement)
Burr, Chandler, The Art of Scent 1889-2012 (announcement of exhibit catalogue)
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)
Dubrow, Jehanne and Lindsay Lusby (eds); The Book of Scented Things: 100 Contemporary Poems about 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)
Edwards, Michael. Fragrances of the World 2013. (brief announcement)
Edwards, Michael. Fragrances of the World 2014. (brief announcement)
Edwards, Michael. Fragrances of the World 2015. (brief announcement)
Edwards, Michael. Fragrances of the World 2016. (brief announcement)
Ellena, Jean-Claude. Perfume: The Alchemy of Scent. (brief announcement)
Fairley, Josephine and Lorna McKay; The Perfume Bible (brief announcement)
Harad, Alyssa; Coming to My Senses: A Story of Perfume, Pleasure, and an Unlikely Bride. (brief announcement, excerpt, Q&A, paperback edition)
Herz, Rachel; The Scent of Desire: Discovering Our Enigmatic Sense of Smell (link to radio interview)
Malle, Frédéric; On Perfume Making (brief announcement)
Moran, Jan; Scent of Triumph (brief announcement)
Nicolaï, Patricia and Jean-Louis Michau; Nicolaï: Parfumeur créateur, un métier d'artiste (brief announcement; French and English)
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)
Tessaro, Kathleen; The Perfume Collector. (book announcement)
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, Q&A, part 2)
Williams, Tessa; Cult Perfumes (book announcement)