The Book of Lost Fragrances

M. J. Rose has been researching history and reincarnation for more than two decades. In addition, in preparation for this book she spent more than two and a half years researching the world of fragrance. She spent time with leaders in the perfume industry, reading ancient treatises on perfumery and alchemy, traveling to flower farms and conventions, as well as studying with fragrance architects, famous noses and niche perfumers.

This glossary offers a glimpse into the author’s research and provides some factual information about some of the topics, locations, theories and legends discussed in the novel.

Some of the rarest perfumes Rose collected during her research. Pictured are Shalimar (left) from the 1960s, Coq d’Or (middle) from the 1940s and Mitsouko from the 1950s.

When she starts a new novel, Rose creates a journal for her main character-this is a page of L’Etoile’s impressions of Paris upon returning home after several years.

A

absolute A highly concentrated aromatic oil harvested from plants using solvent extraction techniques such as enfleurage. Absolutes are often favored for perfume formulation, as the low temperature used in the extraction process does not damage the delicate fragrance compounds. As a result, absolutes often smell truer to their botanical source than oils produced through extraction methods requiring higher temperatures, such as steam distillation.

ancient perfume Rose relied heavily on the history of perfume in this novel and was greatly inspired by her research. The art of perfumery and perfume-making is said to have emerged from Mesopotamia, with earliest recorded accounts dating from around the second millennium BCE. Numerous ancient cultures used incense, perfumes or aromatics in ceremonial rituals and worship. These include the Ancient Egyptians, Ancient Greeks, Romans, Chinese Taoists, Australian Aborigines and Native Americans.

Egypt Perfumed preparations were originally used in Egypt chiefly by the priesthood, who would burn incense in the temples to worship their deities. Perfumed smoke was inhaled and allowed to imbue one’s clothes, as it was believed this act would bring one closer to divinity. Perfume oils were used in bathing rituals and in ceremonial rites; and incense preparations such as kyphi, allegedly containing psychoactive ingredients, were burned nightly to produced a tranquilizing smoke (see hallucinogen). Plutarch writes:

Every day they make a triple offering of incense to the Sun, an offering of resin at sunrise, of myrrh at midday, and of the so-called kyphi at sunset.

– Plutarch, Isis and Osiris

As perfume pervaded Egyptian culture, entire gardens were cultivated to produce perfume-bearing plants, which were then processed in some of the first primitive perfume factories of the ancient world. Perfume was considered an integral part of their civilization in both life and death. Clay pots of perfume oils were buried with ancient queens and Pharaohs to be enjoyed for all eternity. Bas-reliefs Rose saw at the Musée International de la Parfumerie in Grasse depict the entire process of making a fragrance-from harvesting the ingredients to extracting their essence.

A bas-relief, sculpted on an Egyptian tomb presents the various stages in the process of making perfume in the Musée International de la Parfumerie.

Greece Perfume was central to ancient Greek culture, both in mythology and in real life. According to Homer, perfume was bestowed upon man by the gods of the Olympic pantheon, and it played a pivotal role in worship to win their favor. Incense and aromatic plants were burned by the oracle priestesses of Delphi and summoned visions that were interpreted as prescient (see hallucinogen). In ancient Greek civilization, perfumed oils and libations were applied to the skin of athletes, suggesting a consciousness of their therapeutic and healing properties. Perfume was used to commemorate life-to mark milestones such as births and marriages-and to memorialize a person in death. Bodies were anointed with perfume and wrapped in perfumed shrouds, which were believed to bring happiness in the afterlife.

C

catacombs Under the city of Paris is another city. A necropolis known as the catacombs. This ossuary is comprised of more than 200 miles of subterranean tunnels located in what were once Roman-era limestone quarries. The tunnels and ancient chambers, which have never been fully mapped, hold the skeletonized remains of more than six million people who were moved there from aboveground cemeteries for sanitary reasons in the eighteenth century. The use of these quarries as a resting place was established in 1786 by the order of the Lieutenant General of Police, Louis Thiroux de Crosne and the Inspector General of Quarries, Charles Axel Guillaumot.

The catacombs run under seven distinct arrondissements, but only one mile under the fourteenth is open to visitors. This mile is the museum Les Catacombes de Paris, which is on the Left Bank. It can be accessed by traveling 130 steps down into the tunnels and climbing eighty-three steps back up to ground level.

Robespierre discarded the bodies of prostitutes in the catacombs of Paris in what are sometimes referred to as the “Crypts of Passion.” During the Second World War, both the Resistance and German SS troops had headquarters in the twisting mazes of tunnels but never found each other’s hiding places. The catacombs have been featured in many works of fiction, including The Phantom of the Opera and Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.

Carefully arranged bones of some of the more than six million bodies reburied in the catacombs in Paris, France.

M. J. Rose on her visit to the catacombs. Paris, France 2010. This is the entrance before you get to the miles of skeletons.

cataphiles People who illegally explore the miles of catacombs closed to the public. Cataphilia is practiced by spelunkers, some of whom are artists who use the tunnel walls as canvases or carve sculptures into the stone. Others stage plays in the catacombs. Some show movies on the chalk cemetery’s walls, and others engage in black magic or hazing type rituals. Some cataphiles bring wine and food on their midnight forays that they often cook in the twelfth- and thirteenth-century rooms. People have even used the quarries to grow mushrooms.

Chinese law on reincarnation In 2007, fifty years after invading the small Himalayan country of Tibet, the Chinese government passed a law banning reincarnation of the Dalai Lama and other Buddhist monks without government permission. The Tibetan government claimed the law was aimed at wiping out its identity and culture, that indeed, China’s motive was to cut off the influence of the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual and political leader. The Chinese claimed the law would institutionalize the management of reincarnation, but the prime minister of Tibet, the Venerable Samdhong Rinpoche Lobsang Tenzin, said the law was an attempt to end the major Tibetan Buddhist institution-the leadership roles of the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama.

Chypre Chypre is an olfactive classification referring to perfumes featuring citrus top notes (usually including bergamot), floral middle notes (traditionally including jasmine and rose), and a base of oakmoss, musks, labdanum and patchouli.

Chypre is the French word for the Greek island of Cyprus, also known as the Island of Venus. Cyprus is a rich source of labdanum and of the hesperidic (citrus) components found in chypre perfumes. Famous chypres include Guerlain’s Mitsouko, Chypre de Coty and Femme by Rochas.

Cleopatra’s fragrance factory Cleopatra (69-30 BCE), the last pharaoh of Ancient Egypt, was fascinated with-some say obsessed by-scent. Marc Anthony built her a fragrance factory that was erected in fields planted with now-extinct flora, including groves of balsam trees (important in the creation of perfume at the time) that he had confiscated from Herod.

In the 1980s a team of Italian and Israeli archaeologists believed they unearthed the factory at the south end of the Dead Sea, thirty kilometers from Ein Gedi. Residues of ancient perfumes along with seats where customers received beauty treatments were found there.

Another journal page: Egypt and her mythology play a big part in the main character’s life.

Cleopatra’s lost book of fragrance formulas Cleopatra was said to have kept a recipe book for her perfumes, entitled Cleopatra Gynaeciarum Libri. The book has been described in writings by Dioscorides, Homer and Pliny the Elder. No known copy of the book exists today.

D

Djedi 1. A powerful ancient priest and magician referred to in the fourth story of the Westcar Papyrus texts from the twelfth dynasty of the ancient Egyptian Middle Kingdom. Djedi was said to have lived in the fourth dynasty, dying at 110 years old. It was said he could consume 500 loaves of bread, a side of beef and 100 jugs of beer each day. It is alleged he possessed the ability to reattach the severed heads of animals and bring them back to life and that he predicted the births of the future rulers of the fifth dynasty. 2. A perfume created by Jacques Guerlain in 1927. Launched on the heels of Howard Carter’s historic discovery of Tutankhamen’s tomb in 1922, Djedi paid homage to ancient Egyptian civilizations. Interestingly, Jacques Guerlain chose not to celebrate the opulence and splendor of the Golden Ages of Egypt in his olfactory interpretation, opting instead to memorialize the demise of the dynasties that were lost to the sands of time. Djedi’s aroma is a unique and compelling narrative of decomposition and disrepair. One of the most rare and sought-after perfumes from the revered House of Guerlain, it is still highly coveted and desired by collectors today.

E

enfleurage or cold enfleurage A time-honored method of essential oil extraction, in which odorless animal fats are used to collect the fragrant compounds exuded by botanical matter. Traditionally, glass panes are smeared with fat, and then the delicate blossoms are layered over the fats. The perfume diffuses into the fat over several days, after which the spent flowers are replaced with fresh ones. The process is repeated until the fat is supersaturated with the floral scent. The fat is then soaked in ethyl alcohol to draw the fragrant molecules into the alcohol. The alcohol is later isolated and filtered to produce an absolute.

essential oil A concentrated aromatic oil obtained from botanicals using either expression or distillation extraction methods. Expression or “cold pressing” is used to obtain citrus oils. This method involves piercing the peel so that the essential oil found in the tiny pouches over the skin can be released. The whole fruit is then pressed to isolate the juice and oils from the pulp. The essential oils rise to the surface of the juice and are separated and filtered through centrifugation. In distillation, raw plant matter is placed inside a distillation apparatus called an alembic, which itself is placed over water. The water is heated, and the steam produced rises through the botanical material, vaporizing the volatile compounds. This vapor travels through a coil and in doing so, cools to a liquid again. This liquid (the perfume oil) is collected in a receptacle as it leaves the coil. The high temperatures required to extract the oil can sometimes prove destructive for more delicate botanicals, in which case alternative extraction processes, such as enfleurage, are preferred.

F

factice A perfume bottle, usually filled with colored water, that is chiefly used for display or promotional purposes. Factices are usually oversize replicas of the original perfume flacon.

flacon A perfume bottle. Derived from a Middle French word for “bottle,” flacon has become a term used widely in the global vernacular to describe a receptacle for perfume, particularly one of exquisite beauty or craftsmanship.

For research (which wound up being a labor of love) Rose bought hundreds of perfumes. This is a collection of some her favorite inspirations including scents from Guerlain, Frederic Malle, Serge Lutens, Oliver Durbano, Van Cleef and Arpels, Sophia Grojsman, Joya, Jar Parfums, Jo Malone and more.

G

Grasse A town in southeastern France that is considered to be the traditional and modern capital of perfume. Rose spent time there researching; the fictional perfumers at the heart of her novel have a home and factory there.

In the middle ages, Grasse was perhaps best known for its tanneries. “Grasse” itself is a French word meaning “fatty.” In the seventeenth century these tanneries began production of perfumed leather goods, catering to an increasing demand for scented gloves and accessories, which were popularized by Catherine de’ Medici. Grasse’s thriving perfume industry could be credited, in part, to its warm sheltered microclimate, which provided the ideal conditions for flower farming.

Nowadays, the region is particularly well known for its jasmine, lavender, roses and violet leaves, and it has attracted a vast number of factories that process the raw perfume materials. Grasse’s cornerstone perfumeries include Fragonard, Molinard and Galimard.

On display in Musée International de la Parfumerie, nineteenth-century copper alembic stills used in the distillation process of extracting scent from flowers.

Outside the Musée International de la Parfumerie in Grasse, a sculpture of a seventeenth-century perfumer selling his wares.

H

hallucinogen A substance, usually inhaled or ingested, which produces hallucinations. Chemical compounds found in certain plant species can affect the central nervous system when ingested, resulting in adjusted brain function, which can ultimately alter mood, consciousness and perception. A number of fungi and cacti species and many other psychoactive botanicals have been used in folk preparations of hallucinogens for millennia, and many cultures have a recorded history of their use for medicinal, religious and shamanistic purposes.

The ancient Egyptians worked with botanicals like blue lotus (a water lily that contains psychoactive compounds), to which Rose refers in her book. Other hallucinogenic compounds were added to incense preparations, mixtures of natural ingredients that were rolled into balls and placed onto hot coals to release a perfumed smoke. In folk culture, messages received through visions, hallucinations and altered states were regarded as prophetic and/or divine.

I

incense A blend of aromatic botanical components that release a perfumed smoke when burned. Incense has been used in purification, meditation and religious rituals since the dawn of time. Many incense preparations in the ancient world had hypnotic properties or a narcotising effect (see hallucinogen). Incense is said to carry prayers to the heavens, to ward off negative spirits, and to bring joy and peace to the soul. Burning it brings positive energy and a balance to our emotions. It is a used in many cultures as a meditation tool and to promote spiritual healing with its tranquil aromatics (see ancient perfume).

K

karma A spiritual law that concerns cause and effect. In a reincarnation belief system, it is thought that souls are brought back to life to atone for or rectify sins, repay psychic debts or to complete unfinished tasks. In essence, one has to return to the mortal world to satisfy one’s karmic responsibility.

M

maceration A method of extracting fragrant oils from botanical materials by steeping or soaking them in either a cold or a heated solvent solution. Maceration can take from several days to months, depending on the desired outcome. Aromatic compounds gradually pass into the solution, the plant matter is removed, and the perfumed solution is later filtered of impurities.

N

niche perfumes A perfume created by a boutique or artisanal studio, whose production and distribution are on a much smaller scale than that of mainstream or designer perfumes. Perfumes have also been classified as being either niche or mainstream based upon the number of retail outlets they are supported in. Niche perfumes often tend to be preferred by serious perfumistas, as they offer the uniqueness and hands-on craftsmanship that a lot of mainstream scents are lacking. Rose met several niche perfumers, notably the amazing Olivier Durbano, and was inspired by their artistry and talent. In the book, the character Robbie L’Etoile is an homage to these men and women.

Olivier Durbano, architect, jeweler, niche perfumer extraordinaire, and M. J. Rose. Olivier was the inspiration for one of the characters in the book.

Gedhun Choekyi Nyima In 1995, the Dalai Lama identified the next reincarnated Panchen Lama, a five-year-old boy named Gedhun Choekyi Nyima. Months later, the child disappeared. The Chinese government admits to taking Nyima but claims he is alive and living with his family in Tibet. His whereabouts, however, remain unknown and no foreign party has been allowed to see him since his disappearance.

O

Oud A fragrant oil extracted from the resinous heartwood of the aquilaria (agarwood) tree, which grows in abundance in India and Southeast Asia. Aquilaria trees are susceptible to blight by way of a fungus that causes a rich, dark resin to form within the heartwood. This wood is then harvested and distilled to produce pure Oud oil, which has a very unique odor profile. One of the world’s most expensive perfume ingredients, Oud is also prized for its spiritual and esoteric value.

P

perfume and the afterlife In ancient times, scent was aligned with religion and the afterlife. The soul was believed to travel to the next life on the stairway of smoke from the burning incense. Ancient Egyptian tomb paintings, which the author studied in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, show Egyptians wearing perfumed cones on their head.

perfumer’s organ The central workspace at which the perfumer is seated, which is surrounded by ascending staggered rows of small shelves that are laid out in an amphitheatrical arrangement. These shelves hold numerous small bottles of oils and absolutes, each of which is within easy reach of the perfumer while he or she is composing a fragrance. The complex, tiered appearance of the workspace resembles the console of a chapel organ.

Rose traveled to France to learn more about the perfume industry and history, and it was seeing one of these organs in Paris that inspired the antique one in the novel.

The laboratory of a great perfumer, on display in Paris, France.

pyramid The basic structure of a traditional perfume, comprising top notes, middle notes and base notes. Top notes are those components that you can smell upon initial application. Traditionally, these comprise of lighter citrus oils and tend to evaporate rapidly. Middle notes are the essences that emerge after the top notes have faded. They represent the heart of the perfume. Generally florals, spices and herbaceous components reside here. Base notes are the foundation upon which a perfume is built. They are traditionally comprised of heavier or muskier notes that act as the perfume’s backbone. These include woods, resins, mosses and animalic facets such as civet or ambergris. Base notes linger on the skin after the top and middle notes have vanished.

R

reincarnation The word derives from Latin and means “entering the flesh again.” A synonym, “metempsychosis,” means “transmigration of the soul.” Reincarnation is the belief that after death the soul returns to a new body-usually without memory of the previous life. The doctrine is incorporated into almost all Indian religions, including Hinduism and Buddhism. But reincarnation doctrine appears in the beliefs of certain Jewish, Christian and Islam sects as well, including followers of the Cabbala, Catharism, the Alawi, Gnostic and Esoteric Christianity and the Druze. Reincarnation is also part of Native American, Greek and Norse mythologies.

Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, Plotinus, Hermes, Raymond Lully, Nicolás de Cusa, Leonardo da Vinci, Edmund Spenser, Shakespeare, and Milton and Yeats all explored and wrote about rebirth in their work. Spinoza and Leibniz, Voltaire, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, Walt Whitman, W.B. Yeats, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, General George Patton, Kant, Herder, Lessing, Hume and Carl Jung all believed in or wrote about the idea of rebirth.

The tomb is not a blind alley: it is a thoroughfare. It

closes on the twilight. It opens on the dawn.

– Victor Hugo

S

sillage The lingering trail of perfume that remains behind, particularly after the wearer has left the room. Sillage is the French word for wake.

soul migration The belief that a soul returns to a very specific and tailored set of circumstances in order to rectify a previous sin.

Dr. Ian Stevenson (October 31, 1918-February 8, 2007) Dr. Stevenson was a biochemist and professor of psychiatry who headed the Division of Perceptual Studies at the University of Virginia. He spent forty years studying more than 3,000 cases of reincarnation in children. Stevenson believed that reincarnation might help both modern medicine and psychiatry in understanding certain behaviors that had no other explanation. He wrote several books, including Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation and Reincarnation and Biology. His work is carried on today by Dr. Jim Tucker.

T

Tibetan reincarnation In Tibetan Buddhism, a tulku is a person who has been identified as a reincarnation of a great master. A tulku can choose the manner of his (or her) rebirth. Tibetan Buddhists believe that the Buddha is said to exist in three bodies. One of these, the nirmanakaya is the earthly, physical body, which manifests in the world to help bring all beings to enlightenment. Since 1193, hundreds of living masters have been identified. The Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama are the highest ranked.

Different religious methods are used to help identify a reincarnated tulku. Among these are oracles, retreats, portents, searches for mothers who’ve had unusual dreams and children who process certain knowledge without receiving training.

triads Originally Triads were Chinese resistance forces who opposed the Manchu rule. In the 1760s they formed the Heaven and Earth Society in order to overthrow the Qing Dynasty. The society then branched out into many smaller groups, adopting the triangle as their symbol, and going on to exert influence throughout China. In reference to that symbol, the British colonial authorities in Hong Kong coined the term “triad” to describe organized crime syndicates.

In 1949, when the Communist Party came to power in China and law enforcement became more stringent, the triad society members began to migrate. Since the 1880s they have been engaged in counterfeiting. Today, they are active in many regions with significant Chinese populations. They are known to engage in prostitution, extortion and money laundering.

tulpa A mystical concept of a being or object that materializes through willpower, based on the ancient idea of mind transmission. The term originated with Alexandra David-Néel, a Belgian-French explorer and spiritualist who entered Tibet when it was forbidden to foreigners. She claimed to have created a tulpa in the image of a monk who eventually took on a life of his own and needed to be destroyed.

Written by M. J. Rose and Dimitri Dimitriadis,

author of the acclaimed blog Sorcery of Scent

http://sorceryofscent.blogspot.com.