I do not think it is the creative capacity that is lacking, or the capacity for understanding on the part of the public (which remains what it has always been). What is in process of petering out is the capacity for starting something. It is really responsible people who are lacking, and it seems that to-day there is no man capable of launching a Chanel No. 5.
— Perfumer Edmond Roudnitska in Where Are We Going?, an English translation of a talk given in November 1967. You can download the paper in PDF form at Anya's Garden.
If you read French, you may be familiar with that excellent series of cheap booklets published by Presses Universitaires de France called “Que sais-je?”. Each volume in this encyclopaedic collection covers a specific subject, and the good news is: there's one about perfume too! None other than 
