Perfume: The Ultimate Guide to the World's Finest Fragrances by Nigel Groom and St. N. J. Groom (1999, Hardcover)

While the author, Nigel Groom wrote a very good book about perfume in 1992, (The Perfume Handbook, Chapman & Hall), it is a mystery how this particular book: Perfume by St. N. J. Groom (1999, Hardcover) could have been written by the same author.

On the plus side, there are many historical facts relating to the perfumers and companies who's wares are featured in the book, but none of it in great depth however.

On the negative side, this book presumptuously claims to be " The ultimate guide to the worlds greatest perfumes" but is in fact a rather cursory look at the perfume industry, it's products, materials, and methods.It is quite limited in it's scope and while it might be a fun coffee table book ( although it's physically not much larger than a paperback novel), it has very little content that is worthwhile by way of technical value or....not that it was ever touted as being a technical book for industry folk mind you, but it's author seems to largely ignore (as does most of the public side of the fragrance industry for that matter) the use and description of the myriad aroma molecules that have been developed over the last century and that make up the bulk of the materials used in virtually all modern, commercial perfumery.



In short, I think that this book is a "light weight", probably a suitable gift for your niece for her 16th birthday (if she likes perfume) but other than that
not something that you'd be tempted to lift from your dentist's waiting room.