Original Nancy Drew cover, 1944
The sleepy redolence of an old volume can summon favourite childhood stories, library stacks, musty treasures in used bookstores. For Azzi Glasser, founder and nose of The Perfumer’s Story, it is the fragile volumes stored in her grandmother’s attic, opened pages falling from crumbling spines like leaves in late autumn. The Perfumer’s Story Old Books, Azzi Glasser’s ode to the lop-eared tomes that inhabit forgotten boxes and dusty rooms, is a cedary incense that conjures the particular, evocative smell of vintage paperbacks.
Book jacket image via Perpetual Publishing
Unlike other fragrances that have traversed similar ground, such as CB I Hate Perfume’s In the Library, Old Books eschews the vanillic creaminess of aged paper in favour of a woody scent that balances a dry, sandpapery frankincense with the rooty, musty vegetal aroma of vetiver. and the pine tree. The effect is less leather-bound antiquarian and more the wonderful, yellowing smell of an old dime store novel.
Image via The Family Handyman
Even in the opening, the frankincense and vetiver begin their competition for pride of place. Incense comes out a touch earlier, but the vetiver is right behind it. I get a sense of damp combined with a powerful, oily wood note (cedar mixed with patchouli) that evokes vintage bookstores, with their musky paper and sagging shelves. As Old Books develops further, the greenness is underscored by piney, forestal elemi. The recurrence of green, moist and dry notes cleverly hints at the characteristic decaying waft of 1960s paperbacks without smelling obviously musty.
Bel-Ami by Guy de Maupassant (one of Lauryn’s favourites), photo via Renaud-Bray
The green, woody and incense notes combine more harmoniously the longer the fragrance wears, which is absolutely fitting. Old Books skirts gender neatly and its sillage falls squarely between A Handful of Dust and The Sound and the Fury – meaning maybe not for a more reserved office, but perfect for rainy days curled up with a favourite read.
For lovers of that peculiarly compelling perfume that books loved into disrepair possess, The Perfumer’s Story Old Books is a delightfully wearable homage.
Notes: Frankincense, olibanum, myrrh, elemi, patchouli, amber, vetiver and cedar.
Disclaimer: Bottle of The Perfumer’s Story Old Books generously supplied by Europerfumes the USA Distributor. My opinions are my own.
– Lauryn Beer, Senior Editor
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The Perfumer’s Story Old Books
Thanks to the generosity of Europerfumes the USA Distributor we have a 30 ml bottle for one lucky reader in the USA. The draw is for registered readers only, so be sure to register if you have not done so. To be eligible please let us know what you thought of Lauryn’s review of The Perfumer’s Story Old Books. Draw closes 5/30/2019
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