Essays on perfume composition by master perfumer Edmond Roudnitska (1905–1996), translated into English.
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Fixatives (1938)
Fixateurs – originally published in Parfums de France, August 1938
A critical examination of the fixative concept in perfumery, arguing against treating tenacity as an additive property.
The Young Perfume Composer and the Odours (1962)
Le Jeune Compositeur de Parfum et les Odeurs, Originally published in the Dragoco Report, April 1962.
Often cited as the essay that inspired Jean-Claude Ellena to become a perfumer. Covers simplicity in composition, tenacity, the art of smelling, and how to examine new odorant materials.
The Art of Composing (1991)
L’Art de Composer, originally published in 1982 in Dragoco Report, updated.
This is a must read on the methodology. If you want to learn how to smell, it will give you the whole method, even though the list of materials would need to be updated for the XXIst century as many materials have since been banned, added, fallen out of favor, etc…