CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 10/22/2026

At last, ‘The Cultures of Perfume: Scents that Shaped History’ by Saskia Wilson-Brown

“Of all the areas of human endeavor, perfumery might be one of the hardest to pin down,” scent sage and scholar Saskia Wilson-Brown writes in her Introduction to The Cultures of Perfume—perhaps the most highly anticipated and universally coveted book on our Fall 2026 list. “It is intangible, experienced in situ, and connected to human history in a complex tangle of mutual exchange. In the form of composed perfumes or raw aromatics, our olfactory experience has played into how we seduce and perceive attractiveness, how we worship our gods, experience magic, and navigate the world. It has helped us measure health, share culture, understand social status, and engage in trade. Scent is a concurrent narrative to everything we do, and everything we do is interconnected.” Bringing a contemporary sophistication to one of the oldest stories in the human book, Wilson-Brown has produced a volume spanning concepts as broad as evolution and as specific as the connection of brimstone to long-standing fears of the underworld, the wrath of God, Satan and witchcraft. Chapters on the intersection of perfume and the elements, sickness and health, seduction, magic and the supernatural, religion, power, trade paths, consumerism and storytelling are amplified by a notably playful and refined image selection, copious endnotes, a detailed index and a bibliography supported by additional suggested readings. Design is by Lamotte Studios.