Book recommendations

[SleepingPhoenixApothecary]

I'm always on the hunt for good books on the art of perfumery, specifically that go into detail on the construction of perfume. I'm interested in using naturals and isolates and have read most of Mandy Aftel's books. Can anyone recommend some good books that have helped them become better perfumers?

 

[Septime]

If you're interested in isolates, you might be the right audience for Justine Crane's 'Working the Bench II.'

 

[SleepingPhoenixApothecary]

If you're interested in isolates, you might be the right audience for Justine Crane's 'Working the Bench II.'

Wow! Thank you so much, this book is right up my alley. Exactly what I was looking for.

 

[sibie]

I'd also recommend Arctander's Perfume and Flavor Materials of Natural Origin. While it is not primarily a perfume construction book, it is indispensable as a reference guide.

 

[Pratibha]

New to this forum. I was searching for a thread on recommendations. Don't see many recommendations here. Is there any other thread that I am not aware of? I have some books and Mandy Aftel books are very interesting to read. I have 'Essense and Alchemy' and 'Fragrant'

 

[pkiler]

New to this forum. I was searching for a thread on recommendations. Don't see many recommendations here. Is there any other thread that I am not aware of? I have some books and Mandy Aftel books are very interesting to read. I have 'Essense and Alchemy' and 'Fragrant'

Go to the Micelle Press UK website, and buy the Introduction to Perfumery by Curtis, and the Louis Appell book, Cosmetics, Fragrances, and Flavors.

 

[mnitabach]

Go to the Micelle Press UK website, and buy the Introduction to Perfumery by Curtis, and the Louis Appell book, Cosmetics, Fragrances, and Flavors.

Agreed. The Aftel books are near useless...

 

[pkiler]

Agreed. The Aftel books are near useless...

Mandy Aftel's book can work well to teach in a beginners first steps. Every student needs to begin where their knowledge base starts from, and then progress from there as they acquire knowledge and experiences.

 

[Dan 3.141]

Ayala Moriel's book "Foundation of Natural Perfumery" is much better than Mandy Aftel's book. It focuses on natural perfumery and has some good information about natural materials and how to use them. It also has some formulas to introduce you to some simple perfume structures. Great for beginners working with naturals.

 

[mnitabach]

Mandy Aftel's book can work well to teach in a beginners first steps. Every student needs to begin where their knowledge base starts from, and then progress from there as they acquire knowledge and experiences.

I found them ultimately of negative value having read them as a total beginner & required letting go of misleading ideas I had taken on...

 

[Septime]

Putting in a vote for Poucher's 'Perfumes, Cosmetics and Soaps vol. 2.' (Vol. 1 is about ingredients and vol. 3 is about cosmetics, vol. 2 is the one with actual perfume formulae.) The original was 1923 and it was up to 10th edition last I heard. Used copies can be found cheaply online.

 

[Pratibha]

Go to the Micelle Press UK website, and buy the Introduction to Perfumery by Curtis, and the Louis Appell book, Cosmetics, Fragrances, and Flavors.

Thanks for this suggestion 🙏. I may not be able to buy from the website as shipping to India is an issue. This should be available on Amazon.

 

[Pratibha]

Mandy Aftel's book can work well to teach in a beginners first steps. Every student needs to begin where their knowledge base starts from, and then progress from there as they acquire knowledge and experiences.

From her books, I did learn a few things...and her experience is well-known. It is always fun to read about others' experience.

 

[Pratibha]

Ayala Moriel's book "Foundation of Natural Perfumery" is much better than Mandy Aftel's book. It focuses on natural perfumery and has some good information about natural materials and how to use them. It also has some formulas to introduce you to some simple perfume structures. Great for beginners working with naturals.

Thanks. I will look for this book.

 

[Pratibha]

Putting in a vote for Poucher's 'Perfumes, Cosmetics and Soaps vol. 2.' (Vol. 1 is about ingredients and vol. 3 is about cosmetics, vol. 2 is the one with actual perfume formulae.) The original was 1923 and it was up to 10th edition last I heard. Used copies can be found cheaply online.

Thank you. I will try to search on Amazon.

 

[pkiler]

Another thread recently lists many books. What I found missing are some of the good ones, which I will also list here, in case the other thread becomes toxic and deleted.

These books are in my Library for the Learning of Perfumery.

Handbook of Perfumes and Flavors, Olindo Secondini, published by East West Press, New Delhi, reprint 2003
Has some 40 pages of relatively short perfumery formulas, 6-8/page, and 110 pages of flavor formulas 6-8/page, plus a lot of discussion of raw materials.

Perfumery Technology: Art, Science Industry, by Wells and Billot, reprinted 1988, Ellis Horwood, London.
Very good, has formulas, a very good book.

Flower Oils and Floral Compounds in Perfumery, by Danute Anonis, which includes the fuller versions of some P&F articles, plus a lot more, includes a lot of formulas, but the book itself is fairly unobtainium, except that the crook Leonard Payne has republished a very poor quality version that is available now at $175/book. But since the book was essential unavailable, Leonard has stepped in and gets money for this poor quality repro/pirate edition, so that he can buy wine for himself. Otherwise, original content is an Excellent book.

Perfumes, Art, Science and Technology, by Muller and Lamparsky. Elsevier, 1991
This is a higher level and a technical book, which includes synthesizing and chemistry work for aroma materials, excellent and intense book.
I see many affordable copies available right now, so I'm not sure why I resorted to copying the entire book and binding those copied pages, maybe at the time I looked it was difficult or expensive to procure...?

I also find the Roman Kaiser books enormously helpful when trying to construct some florals. His encyclopedic floral GCMS headspace analyses books are nothing short of amazing... They are the Motherload of Floral GCMS Headspace libraries.

These are:
Meaningful Scents Around the World
Scent of the Vanishing Flora
The Scent of Orchids
And you should also pay attention to his magazine articles as well.

The last I will mention is the motherload of Fruits GCMS results, especially Japanese fruits, as it is published by the Japan Flavor and Fragrance Association, and I freely admit rather difficult to acquire, albeit not at all expensive.
Perfume Quarterly, Japan, Special Issue - Fragrances of Fruits by GCMS, Winter 2014, But the entire title, and 99% of the text but for the molecular names, is all in Japanese. This tome will be extremely difficult to find and acquire. And then you must translate anything that you really want to read, as well. And live on your phone translation software doesn't seem to be doing a terrific job, so absorbing, reading, and using the book is quite time consuming. It is just a very thick magazine, really, so I had mine library bound so that it would last for my lifetime.

A last word on the India published books, with titles that include the words like Modern Technology, Complete Technology, Etc, and published by NIIR, and other sources are extremely reasonable $ to purchase when buying from India, buying outside of India they are pretty expensive. They all seem to be republished /stolen / conglomerated from other older books, (One is just a copy of Poucher's 9th Edition...) so the info is outdated. But the price is cheap, if you want to have one or two in your library.

 

[mnitabach]

Another thread recently lists many books. What I found missing are some of the good ones, which I will also list here, in case the other thread becomes toxic and deleted.

These books are in my Library for the Learning of Perfumery.

Handbook of Perfumes and Flavors, Olindo Secondini, published by East West Press, New Delhi, reprint 2003
Has some 40 pages of relatively short perfumery formulas, 6-8/page, and 110 pages of flavor formulas 6-8/page, plus a lot of discussion of raw materials.

Perfumery Technology: Art, Science Industry, by Wells and Billot, reprinted 1988, Ellis Horwood, London.
Very good, has formulas, a very good book.

Flower Oils and Floral Compounds in Perfumery, by Danute Anonis, which includes the fuller versions of some P&F articles, plus a lot more, includes a lot of formulas, but the book itself is fairly unobtainium, except that the crook Leonard Payne has republished a very poor quality version that is available now at $175/book. But since the book was essential unavailable, Leonard has stepped in and gets money for this poor quality repro/pirate edition, so that he can buy wine for himself. Otherwise, original content is an Excellent book.

Perfumes, Art, Science and Technology, by Muller and Lamparsky. Elsevier, 1991
This is a higher level and a technical book, which includes synthesizing and chemistry work for aroma materials, excellent and intense book.
I see many affordable copies available right now, so I'm not sure why I resorted to copying the entire book and binding those copied pages, maybe at the time I looked it was difficult or expensive to procure...?

I also find the Roman Kaiser books enormously helpful when trying to construct some florals. His encyclopedic floral GCMS headspace analyses books are nothing short of amazing... They are the Motherload of Floral GCMS Headspace libraries.

These are:
Meaningful Scents Around the World
Scent of the Vanishing Flora
The Scent of Orchids
And you should also pay attention to his magazine articles as well.

The last I will mention is the motherload of Fruits GCMS results, especially Japanese fruits, as it is published by the Japan Flavor and Fragrance Association, and I freely admit rather difficult to acquire, albeit not at all expensive.
Perfume Quarterly, Japan, Special Issue - Fragrances of Fruits by GCMS, Winter 2014, But the entire title, and 99% of the text but for the molecular names, is all in Japanese. This tome will be extremely difficult to find and acquire. And then you must translate anything that you really want to read, as well. And live on your phone translation software doesn't seem to be doing a terrific job, so absorbing, reading, and using the book is quite time consuming. It is just a very thick magazine, really, so I had mine library bound so that it would last for my lifetime.

A last word on the India published books, with titles that include the words like Modern Technology, Complete Technology, Etc, and published by NIIR, and other sources are extremely reasonable $ to purchase when buying from India, buying outside of India they are pretty expensive. They all seem to be republished /stolen / conglomerated from other older books, (One is just a copy of Poucher's 9th Edition...) so the info is outdated. But the price is cheap, if you want to have one or two in your library.

Paul, have you tried any of the floral accords in Secondini? They almost all look very weird to me...

 

[pkiler]

Paul, have you tried any of the floral accords in Secondini? They almost all look very weird to me...

No, have not.

 

[LaFou]

Another thread recently lists many books. What I found missing are some of the good ones, which I will also list here, in case the other thread becomes toxic and deleted.

These books are in my Library for the Learning of Perfumery.

Handbook of Perfumes and Flavors, Olindo Secondini, published by East West Press, New Delhi, reprint 2003
Has some 40 pages of relatively short perfumery formulas, 6-8/page, and 110 pages of flavor formulas 6-8/page, plus a lot of discussion of raw materials.

Perfumery Technology: Art, Science Industry, by Wells and Billot, reprinted 1988, Ellis Horwood, London.
Very good, has formulas, a very good book.

Flower Oils and Floral Compounds in Perfumery, by Danute Anonis, which includes the fuller versions of some P&F articles, plus a lot more, includes a lot of formulas, but the book itself is fairly unobtainium, except that the crook Leonard Payne has republished a very poor quality version that is available now at $175/book. But since the book was essential unavailable, Leonard has stepped in and gets money for this poor quality repro/pirate edition, so that he can buy wine for himself. Otherwise, original content is an Excellent book.

Perfumes, Art, Science and Technology, by Muller and Lamparsky. Elsevier, 1991
This is a higher level and a technical book, which includes synthesizing and chemistry work for aroma materials, excellent and intense book.
I see many affordable copies available right now, so I'm not sure why I resorted to copying the entire book and binding those copied pages, maybe at the time I looked it was difficult or expensive to procure...?

I also find the Roman Kaiser books enormously helpful when trying to construct some florals. His encyclopedic floral GCMS headspace analyses books are nothing short of amazing... They are the Motherload of Floral GCMS Headspace libraries.

These are:
Meaningful Scents Around the World
Scent of the Vanishing Flora
The Scent of Orchids
And you should also pay attention to his magazine articles as well.

The last I will mention is the motherload of Fruits GCMS results, especially Japanese fruits, as it is published by the Japan Flavor and Fragrance Association, and I freely admit rather difficult to acquire, albeit not at all expensive.
Perfume Quarterly, Japan, Special Issue - Fragrances of Fruits by GCMS, Winter 2014, But the entire title, and 99% of the text but for the molecular names, is all in Japanese. This tome will be extremely difficult to find and acquire. And then you must translate anything that you really want to read, as well. And live on your phone translation software doesn't seem to be doing a terrific job, so absorbing, reading, and using the book is quite time consuming. It is just a very thick magazine, really, so I had mine library bound so that it would last for my lifetime.

A last word on the India published books, with titles that include the words like Modern Technology, Complete Technology, Etc, and published by NIIR, and other sources are extremely reasonable $ to purchase when buying from India, buying outside of India they are pretty expensive. They all seem to be republished /stolen / conglomerated from other older books, (One is just a copy of Poucher's 9th Edition...) so the info is outdated. But the price is cheap, if you want to have one or two in your library.

As always 👏👌👌👌👌

 

[pkiler]

This is one of the best books out there:
An Introduction to Perfumery, by Curtis and Williams, published by Micelle Press, UK.

Well worth the small price of £65.00, sold by Micelle press here, the link is below, despite it saying, "One moment, please."

https://micellepress.co.uk/Itp1.html

Roman, I am sorry that you hate paper books, but do not try to buy a free pirate scanned version, please support the publisher by buying their still in production book.