Book cover of Essence and Alchemy: A Book of Perfume

Book description

As long as there has been passion, there has been perfume. Wealthy Romans used to scent their doves while in Shakespeare's time, a woman in love would place a peeled apple into her armpit to saturate it with her scent and then present it to her lover. "Essence and Alchemy"…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Essence and Alchemy as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Aftel is the Alice Waters of natural perfume and here she shares the secrets of her craft while revealing their rich history.

She brings out the magic and alchemy in humankind’s long-standing efforts to capture the aromatic essences of plants, evoking a hidden world of natural fragrances and their ability to seduce, heal, intoxicate, and transport one to another state.

From Theresa's list on perfume and scent.

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Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!

On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…

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