Conville & Walsh
The Scent Trail
A Journey of the Senses
- Author: Celia Lyttleton
- Category: Non-fiction
- Publisher: Transworld
- Pub date: 2 July 2007
- Length: 336 pages
About The Scent Trail
A definitive account of the history of scent, THE SCENT TRAIL is a fascinating and beautifully illustrated journey to the heart of a vanishing world. It opens with Celia Lyttleton’s visit to a bespoke perfumer, who over the course of several hours asks Celia numerous questions: about her past, the smells from her childhood and the memories they evoke, her favourite sounds and her favourite colours. Gradually, using a palette of over five hundred smells, he creates a unique scent that only Celia will wear.
Focusing on the ten key ingredients of this scent, Celia has travelled along the three major scent trails through Europe, Asia and the Middle East. She sources the ingredients, and meets and interviews those who harvest, ship, distil, create and sell scent, from peasants in Turkey and Bulgaria, through scent merchants in the souks of Damascus, to the ‘Noses’ of the scent-makers in the south of France – all the while travelling the same routes that have been used by merchants for thousands of years. THE SCENT TRAIL ends with Celia’s opening her bottle of bespoke scent and experiencing the fruits and memories of her travels.
About the Author
Celia Lyttleton is an acclaimed art critic. She has written for numerous magazines, papers and journals around the world, ranging from Vogue, Elle Decoration, Tatler, World of Interiors, Harpers & Queen and Talk magazine to Art & Auction in the US and the Evening Standard, Telegraph and Independent in the UK. She is also the UK’s first scent critic for International News.
Celia is the author of two books on contemporary art, THE NOW ART BOOK and FLOATING WORLDS, both of which were published in Japan. She is also writing her first historical novel.