Essence and Alchemy: A Natural History of Perfume

A wonderful and deeply insightful journey in the world of scent. Profoundly researched and very tastefully written. Today even more valid and necessary than at the time that was written.

Quienes venden libros no se consideran obligados a mencionar que los imprimen bajo demanda. El resultado no es un libro sino un taco de papeles con calidad de fotocopias, que están pegados a un cartón que llega deformado. No lo voy a tirar a la basura, pero este tipo de engaños no son admisibles. CALIDAD PÉSIMA.

This book is outstanding in its refinement, depth and quality of information and the exquisite writing style. I cannot stop reading and rereading it. I'm a beginning perfumer and I tried reading some modern books on perfumery, but just couldn't palate the dry chemical, marketing laden soulless feel of them. This book has brought me right back to the source of the magic and mystery of perfumery! It's almost esoteric. It feels like certain passages were written by Clarissa Pinkola Estes (a renown Jungian psychologist, the author of the epic "Women Who Run With the Wolves") with her archetypal insights. I have seen some negative reviews of this book and I pray the world won't see the perfumes produced by those who cannot relate to the alchemy, poetry and mysticism of the perfume. They should be making laundry detergents, not perfumes.

Aftel’s book is a delight, to all who might be interested in perfumery, the mysteries of olfaction, and, particularly how psyche and aroma connect. Her book is far from a leaf through, light on substance pretty picture coffee table book. Instead, dense and engagingly written text, lightened and deepened by beautiful line drawings – which are actually so much more satisfying (for this reader) than the usual photographer and bottles of perfume artfully arranged number.There is something enormously pleasing about the original slow work involved in making, for example, botanical line drawings, woodcuts and the like, which are then here reproduced.Aftel is a fascinating writer, too. Originally a psychotherapist she brings that listening delight to teasing out the useful story of ‘the other’ the uncovering of hidden meaning, to the way she sees her present vocation – perfumer. And, her interest is in natural perfumes, rather than those of novel synthesised chemistry created in a lab.Those of us who are pulled, for many reasons, by perfume using plants, know that this is slow, reflective perfumery. At its best we are drawn into a realisation of the complexity of growing the plants, of extractions to yield their aromatics, of a weight of history behind themAnd Aftel brings all this along with her in her book, connecting ‘’Per fumem” to its original, sacred roots, and the making of perfume from extracting essential oils from plants to an original pairing with alchemy.Along the way as well as philosophical, psychological and historical reflections, there is much practical information for the budding kitchen perfumer, including methods, aromatic suggestions, information about what will harmoniously marry with what, and what might connect with interesting, piquant oppositions.This is a book to enjoyably read and re-read – not to mention, embark on given formulations and sail out on one’s own to assay others.The book concludes with a list of potential suppliers, though as this was originally published in 2001 I note some of the listed suppliers have long disembarked from their perfumed barges and vanished into the wild blue yonder,There is also an extensive bibliography and reference section, to take the eager reader onwards into further aromatic journeys, be these deeper into an exploration of alchemy, or neurobiology and olfaction, or, even weighty tomes exploring the history and design of perfume bottles!This is very much a deep, broad, wide read on the subject, but beckoning the lured reader on to further exploration

Historical inaccuracies, technical incompetence sometimes bordering on utter incompetence. An example: authentic essential oils apparently leave no residues (sic!) and opposed to the cut ones.Self indulgent rather than informative. I suppose it's an ok read for someone not into the subject. Otherwise waste of time.