The Lost Art of Perfume

“He who ruled scent ruled the hearts of men.”

Patrick Süskind, Perfume.

The manufacturing secrets of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, the hero of Süskind’s novel, have been forgotten. Or nearly forgotten. Master perfumer Septimus Piesse (1820-1882) was one of the last to learn about musical alchemy and the intimate history of fragrances: “There is, so to speak, an octave of odors, like an octave of notes; certain perfumes blend together like the sounds of an instrument.”

We present here the essentials of this 1857 classic, which also traces the history of perfumes among the Romans, Chinese and Egyptians. The Afterword includes a short treatise on the political role of flowers.