Fragrant Reads - The Perfume Society

Writing about perfume, and smells in general, is one of the greatest challenges for a journalist/author: how to evoke scents, with words…? But over the years, quite a few have done so very, very successfully. And if you want to build a ‘perfume bookshelf’, to deepen your knowledge of perfumery, start here…

We’ve awarded each title stars out of five, as a guide to which we think are the most important, and the all-round best reads. Nothing less than a three-star book is feataured here, though – so we reckon any of them are a worthwhile read.

As you become ever-more-obsessed (and we know how that feels), you may want to add to your collection – and of course, we’ll add to this section whenever new releases catch our eye…

We’d always prefer you support an independent bookstore rather than One-Clicking on Amazon – these indie stores can happily order most in-print books. However, in a super-busy world, we know it isn’t always practical. (And if you’re happy to buy secondhand – most titles are available via Amazon – this does often support smaller bookstores.)

Looking for out-of-print perfume titles in secondhand bookstores can be like searching for a needle in a haystack, meanwhile. If you’re in a hurry, we generally recommend abebooks.com, which links thousands of secondhand bookstores around the world, while Amazon can be a source for remaindered books…

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Floating Gold: A Natural (and Unnatural) History of Ambergris

Floriography: An Illustrated Guide to the Victorian Language of Flowers

Floriography by Jessica Roux, published by Simon & Schuster

Exploring the secret, coded significance of various blooms through history, Jessica Roux presents a beautifully illustrated book of fragrant posy suggestions – from flowers to proffer a specific message to a prospective lover, to those one should an enemy... perhaps with a copy of this book, if you want to make sure your message gets through loud and clear?

Described as a 'full-color guide to the historical uses and secret meanings behind an impressive array of flowers and herbs,' there is such delight to be found its pages, and one cannot but help construct imaginary floral messages to foes or scandalously salacious love letters 'written' in this fascinating historical code! Something we particularly enjoyed were the many suggestions of flowers to pair, adding further layers of mysterious significance to a bouquet – rather than a single meaning of a bloom.

The language of flowers is centuries long, floral mythology and cultural significance reaching back as far as history itself; but it really hit its peak with the always nostalgic and whimsical Victorians in the 19th century, particularly in England and within the United States. In these times, the importance of etiquette could not be understated – and sending the incorrect bouquet might have resulted in faces as red as the roses you'd innocently gifted. We have to remember that really, such strict social guidelines were enforced to reign in any unwanted displays of open emotion (unthinkable!) and so such coded ways of communicating were commonplace. And yet, where strictness prevails, so too do romantic fancies entangle every possible method of expressing oneself...

The Victorians were notoriously harsh in their 'rules' about what types of fragrance (particularly women) should use, where they should apply it, how much and how often. You can read more about this – and other eras' perfumed proclivities – in our dedicated section on Perfume History; but for full-on floral charm, the scented snippets researched and illustrated by talented artist Jessica Roux, makes this a wonderful book for any flower-lover – and you'll surely be dropping the floral facts you've gleaned from it into conversations for years to come.

The publishers suggest this is a perfect gift, and we certainly agree – but how much more interesting that gift would be if accompanied by a meaningfully put-together floral arrangement, don't you think...?

Buy it from Book Depository

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