Your support keeps us publishing. Follow this link to subscribe to our print magazine.

Smells Like World Spirit

By: Hannah Proctor

A newly translated book tells the fascinating interwoven histories of two perfumes with a shared origin, but what does it take to write the history of smell?

Small

The sense of smell is bound up with memory. An unexpected waft of a particular scent can vividly evoke the textures of a particular time or place. The whiff of a lavender fabric softener recently returned me to my grandparents’ bungalow, steam rising from a library canteen in Berlin whisked me back to the kitchen […]

Medium

The sense of smell is bound up with memory. An unexpected waft of a particular scent can vividly evoke the textures of a particular time or place. The whiff of a lavender fabric softener recently returned me to my grandparents’ bungalow, steam rising from a library canteen in Berlin whisked me back to the kitchen […]

Large

The sense of smell is bound up with memory. An unexpected waft of a particular scent can vividly evoke the textures of a particular time or place. The whiff of a lavender fabric softener recently returned me to my grandparents’ bungalow, steam rising from a library canteen in Berlin whisked me back to the kitchen […]

The sense of smell is bound up with memory. An unexpected waft of a particular scent can vividly evoke the textures of a particular time or place. The whiff of a lavender fabric softener recently returned me to my grandparents’ bungalow, steam rising from a library canteen in Berlin whisked me back to the kitchen […]

Sorry, but this article is available to subscribers only. Please log in or become a subscriber.