Preface

In 1948 I was posted, as a Political Officer, to a remote part of south-west Arabia on the edge of the great desert called the Empty Quarter. In valleys made fertile by seasonal flood-waters lay the remains of an ancient civilization. I found inscriptions and the ruin sites of towns, palaces and temples. Almost buried under the sand dunes were the tumbled walls of a great city. From here, two thousand years before, huge camel caravans had trudged their way along 1600 miles of burning sand and rocks to Petra and Gaza, burdened with most precious cargo frankincense, myrrh and other perfume materials for the courts, temples and perfume shops of Rome.

My book Frankincense and Myrrh delved into the details of this romantic trade and led to a broader interest in the perfumes of ancient times. Then, researching on behalf of a perfume house into the Arab contribution to perfumery. I came across the collection of perfume recipes assembled by the Arab philosopher scientist Yaqub al-Kindi, which have never been translated into English. I realized that in that work I had found key evidence to demonstrate how the medieval Arab perfume makers had been the bridge in perfume history between ancient and modern times. Perfumery cold now be seen as an art with a continuous history of development since the dawn of civilization. This book has been complied for a multitude of purposes, but among them is the object of affirming this continuity in the long story of perfumery. There is, therefore, no incongruity if an entry about a great ‘classic’ perfume of the 20^th century appears next to one describing an unguent of ancient Greece; besides, both may well be found to contain some of the same exotic in south-west Arabia all those centuries ago.

But it is for the person with a general interest in the perfumes of modern times that this book is principally intended, especially for the women and, increasingly, the men, who like to use fragrances as a normal part of the process of getting dressed. Hitherto, they have been faced with a bewildering range of fragrances but have little information to guide their selection of them. This book aims to help them choose their fragrances more confidently and to enable them to talk about the whole subject of perfumery more intelligently. Other for whom it is hoped this book will be of value includes those people who may wish to try making fragrances themselves. For them brief guidance notes, under the heading Perfume Making at Home, supported by an appendix of recipes and formulas, will provide an introduction into a fascinating occupation. Among other general monographs which will be found grouped together under the broad heading Perfume is one on Perfume Containers, designed to help the growing number of persons who now follow the hobby of collecting perfume bottles. Throughout this work I have tried to give due recognition to the artists and craftsmen who design and manufacture the elegant and striking falcons in which perfumes are now contained.