The Scent Trail: How One Woman's Quest for the Perfect Perfume Took Her Around the World - Softcover

Lyttelton, Celia

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0451226240 ISBN 13: 9780451226242

Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group, 2009

Synopsis

Lyttelton?s passion for fragrance inspired her to have a signature perfume created just for her?and then to embark on the ultimate olfactory odyssey. Armed with a list of ingredients, she tracked down each component of her scent, tracing its origins, history, and culture.

From the iris fields of Tuscany to the vetivert distilleries of India, from the nutmeg plantations of Sri Lanka to the shores of the Arabian Sea, Celia gives readers a glimpse into the world of scent that few people have ever experienced, providing delicious details on its place in history?for example, how Casanova added small amounts of ambergris to chocolate mousses to aid his amorous adventures, and how Charles Dickens carried a monogrammed pocket nutmeg grater in his waist coat at a time when nutmeg was used to ward off evil and to spice rum.

About this title

About the Author

Celia Lyttelton is an artist and a journalist. She has written for Vogue, Tatler, Vanity Fair, World of Interiors, the Sunday Times and Harpers & Queen.

Reviews

For globe-trotting British journalist Lyttelton, scent evokes memories. Such memories from her childhood, when she traveled with her archeologist mother to distant countries, led her to embark on a quest to find scent origins around the world. Seeking her own bespoke perfume, she visits a London perfumer, introducing readers to the delicate art of composing a perfume, evoking, for instance, a forest at dawn soaked in dew or, more abstractly, a piece of music. With her own formula in hand, Lyttelton sets out to visit places where the ingredients are grown, hoping to meet the harvesters, encounter fragrant fumes and discover the secrets of perfume making. Lyttelton has a magical manner of blending words and sentences to summon up splendiferous odors amid her anecdotes, memories and historical research. Scented sentences permeate the pages as she takes the reader along on her olfactory odyssey across far-flung, labyrinthine landscapes, from the French Riviera and Morocco to Tuscany and Sri Lanka. Her enchanting escapades conclude with a glossary of terminology used by perfumers. (Feb. 3)
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Edition details

• Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0451226240
• ISBN 13: 9780451226242
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320