While THE LITTLE BOOK OF PERFUMES celebrates such masterpieces of the perfumer’s art, it also sounds a warning: just as the four great historical perfumes described within are gone forever, the other ninety-six may be at risk too. It makes the perfect gift for anyone searching for a brilliant fragrance-or just a brilliant read. Stunningly produced, this petite volume concentrates on ninety-six top fragrances and four legendary scents preserved only in the French museum of perfume, the Osmothèque. THE LITTLE BOOK OF PERFUMES: The Hundred Classics (Viking On-sale Octo9780670023103 $18.00) is devoted purely to those fragrances that earned their highest praise, the “masterpiece” rating. Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez’s highly praised Perfumes: The Guide included more than 1,800 perfumes, both good and bad, masculine and feminine, new and old, cheap and expensive. This will be a must-have for anyone who already loves perfumes, though many of the reviews will cause violent disagreement, and those who aren't utterly perfume-obsessed will still appreciate the opening essays on olfactory science, the history of perfume, general types of fragrances and how to choose perfumes.The Little Book of Perfumes: The Hundred Classics by Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez is now available for pre-order at the major online bookstores (delivery around 10/27): a towering masterpiece," while Aqua Allegoria Pivoine Magnifica is "like chewing tin foil while staring at a welding arc." Other startlingly evocative metaphors abound, especially those comparing perfumes to people, whether someone real (Amy Winehouse, Paris Hilton) or a general type (socialites, someone ill with bronchitis). French perfumery Guerlain is subject to both: Jicky is "an object lesson in perfumery. Their passion for a few scents and their outrage at the others' failings make for entry after entry of hilarious, catty comments interspersed with occasional erudite, eloquent disquisitions. A collaboration between Turin, a well-known olfactory scientist, and Sanchez, a perfume collector and critic, the book brings their exquisite connoisseurship to life in a contagious manner. Less a guide in the sense of helping people choose the perfect fragrance than a wide-ranging, critical review of some 1,200 perfumes, both famous and obscure, this comprehensive book is unfailingly entertaining.
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