By Edwin T. Morris
Published: 1984 by Products of Nature and of Art
My copy is now held together by lots of cello tape. I purchased my copy in one of those awesome New York bookstores on my first trip to New York in the early 1990s.
Can I tell you about my first trip to New York?
It was my first overseas trip with Carolyn and we were so excited to visit New York. I still remember arriving early Sunday morning and the taxi driver driving us to our hotel in Greenwich Village. It was summer and already warm. Along the footpaths lay piles and piles of uncollected garbage. The taxi driver explained that there was a garbage collector’s strike, hence all the garbage.
It really stank – but guess what? We were in New York and we were so excited to be there! The smell of garbage added to the excitement and we did not mind it at all. Still to this day, when I smell the putrid scent of decaying garbage, I get excited about my first trip to New York. It just goes to show how powerful a positive experience combined with an aroma can be. I always talk about this powerful relationship between memory and scent in my classes.
Now back to Fragrance – The Story of Perfume from Cleopatra to Chanel. Morris is a skillful writer who provides us with a wonderful narrative of the use of essential oils and natural aromatic ingredients in perfumery from ancient civilisations through to modern times.
This is a must-read for anyone who wishes to trace the use of essential oils as perfumes.
