Reading Ritual: Perfuming Your Books

Reading for pleasure is a joy and delight. Once, I discovered a way to make reading even more pleasurable. It was all thanks to Marie Antoinette’s perfumer.

I was reading “The Scented Palace,” about Marie Antoinette’s love of perfumes, when I decided to spray the pages of the book with a certain perfume. I was hoping to capture the wonderful feeling I was getting from reading and associate it with a particular scent.

The paper took in the scent and it disappeared. Having forgotten my little experiment, the next time I opened the same book, I was astounded by the magnificent scent that assaulted me. I realized that perfuming books, though it might seen like an astonishingly wasteful endeavor, really allows a certain mood to be associated with each book in my collection. And since my perfume wardrobe is in no threat of depletion, I allow myself this pleasure. I encourage you to try it, it will be memorable.