Perfumes: A Guide to the World of Fragrances: A Guide to Perfume Notes, Ingredients and Compositions for Beginners and Collectors Hardcover – March 21, 2026

Perfumes: A Guide to the World of Fragrances is an encyclopaedic guide to the world of perfume ingredients that takes you from the earliest civilisations to modern synthetic chemistry laboratories. The book reveals the stories behind the ingredients that form the foundation of world perfumery — where they come from, how they are extracted, how they smell and why they are irreplaceable.You begin at the roots of perfumery: from ancient Mesopotamia and Egyptian temples, through the Islamic Golden Age and the invention of distillation, to 17th-century France, where perfumery took the form we know today. You then immerse yourself in the anatomy of perfume — you will understand the perfume pyramid, the differences between EDT and EDP, and why the same perfume smells different on every person.A dedicated chapter reveals all extraction methods: from the oldest maceration and the romantic enfleurage of Grasse, through steam distillation perfected by Avicenna in the 11th century, to supercritical CO₂ extraction and biotechnological fermentation — methods that today replace rare natural raw materials without any compromise in quality.At the heart of the book is a guide through twelve perfume families. Citrus from Calabria and Sicily, thirteen of the most important flowers from Damask rose to rare narcissus, mysterious woods such as oud and sandalwood, herbal and green notes, exotic spices, ancient resins such as frankincense and labdanum, controversial animalic notes, fresh aquatic molecules, enticing gourmand ingredients and synthetic molecules that forever changed perfumery — coumarin, ambroxan, aldehydes and galaxolide.Each ingredient is presented in three dimensions: how it smells and what role it plays in a perfume composition, where it comes from and how it is obtained, and a fascinating historical or scientific fact that reveals the hidden story behind every scent.The book is intended for beginners who want to understand the world of perfume, as well as passionate collectors seeking deeper context behind their favourite fragrances. Read more