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I must start with thanks to the BSP committee, for bringing us all to the gates of Osmothèque, with swan-like apparent ease on the day. We could only guess at their efforts, which had quietly gone on in the months before, to glide us to our destination. Thanks also to the Osmothèque for giving us such a warm welcome.

From the moment we stepped through the door of Osmothèque, we found many treasures of perfumery history. The cabinets in the foyer were packed with wonder, raw material bottles from the turn of the 20^th century, with their intricate graphics.  There was a delicately carved sandalwood box, slices of sassafras wood and 'bois de Rhodes'. This was new to me, but the Internet has divulged that it was commonly used in the early solid fragrances, or Oyselets de Chypre, more of these later........... .

There was also an extensive collection of antique fragrance bottles to feast the eye on.

Reminders of the use of animal products were there; boxes with Chinese prints depicting the musk deer hunt; a piece of ambergris; and civet horns from Africa still sealed with leather. They reminded me of a story a Bill Bearman once told me. One of his first tasks as a messenger boy in the 1930's was to carry a civet horn across London on a bus! Much to his embarrassment and I suspect the annoyance of other passengers. All this magic was behind glass - our nasal delights were to come.

Osmothèque was founded in 1990. The name comes from osmo the Greek word for smell and theque, Greek for storage, so a place to store and study fragrance. All the latest fragrances find their place here, but we were to study the classics. Many of these are no longer on the market. Original formulations have been presented to Osmothèque, so that the creations from the past can be compounded again.

The fragrances are carefully stored, below ground level, in a 'cave' held at 12°C. The head spaces of the bottles are purged with argon, to prevent oxidation. We were not allowed into this inner sanctuary of fragrance, but were able to sample many of its carefully stored gems.

The oldest recipe held at Osmothèque is taken from the works of Pliny, written in the 1^st century AD.  The fragrance was said to be made for Le Roi de Parthes (king of Parthia). As the fragrance predated the discovery of alcohol by the Arabs, it was oil based. The scent was full of cinnamon bark, styrax and benzoin. A step into the royal court, at one and the same time, we felt a cultural gulf in the strange rich accord, but also some links across time with the familiar cinnamon.

Patricia explained how the Christians had banned personal fragrances, reserving the use of materials like frankincense for spiritual practices alone. The Arabs however loved fragrance. Patricia gave us a quote from Mohamed – he loved three things in life, women, children and perfume.  The influence of the Arabs brought fragrance back to Southern Europe.

We were guided through the history of Grasse; its development from the leather industry, to perfumery.  A point I had not picked up before was that the Grassoise used to lay the leather hides across myrtle leaves, to help mask the unpleasant smell of tanning. It was Catherine de Medici who brought the manufacture of more complex fragrances to Grasse from Italy and the fashion of fragranced leather gloves to France.

The first alcoholic fragrance we smelt was made for the queen of Hungary. 'L'eau de  la Reine de Hongrie'. From the 14^th century, these alcoholic preparations were made to drink as well as wear on handkerchiefs etc. The queen's physician prescribed the preparation for her health. Patricia let us discover for ourselves, that it was simply a rosemary infusion in alcohol, very true to the botanical.

We found out that the names we still see in the market today, Roger & Gallet, come down to us from the history of Eau de Cologne. Armand Roger and Charles Gallet were cousins. They inherited the Parisian fragrance business from Jean-Marie Farina, who in turn inherited it from Jean-Paul Feminis. Jean-Paul took the art of making fragrance from Italy to Cologne in the late 17^th century.

Louis XIV loved fragrance. In his time many new ingredients came into use from across the globe, for instance vanilla was introduced into perfumery. Louis XIV's wife did not like heavy, animalic fragrances, but loved lighter fragrances, especially neroli (made from the distillation of flowers of the bitter orange tree). She commissioned the first 'Orangerie' to grow her beloved ingredient in Paris. Orangeries became fashionable across Northern Europe. (David Ruskin and I later visited the Orangerie in the Place de la Concorde. Sadly we did not smell orange blossom but did see a stunning exhibition of Impressionist art – thoroughly recommended.)

In the 18^th century Paris continued to flourish as a centre of perfumery, exporting  all over the world, notably to USA and Russia. Houses like L.T. Piver, Houbigant and Lubin were formed. Napoleon loved cologne, he used to keep a flask in his boot and found it stimulating to his brain. Napoleon's valet came from Versailles and by happenstance a formulation was found in some of the valet's furniture in a Versailles auction. Osmotheque now prepare this simple lemon cologne from ingredients that were available on the island of St Helena where Napoleon was incarcerated.

Patricia explained that the florals of this period were all single florals, the idea of a fragrance bouquet had not arrived yet. We smelt Vera Violet, Roger Gallet, 1892,  which showed the first use of synthetic ionones. Not pleasant to the modern nose with heavy use of styrax and a strange animalic almost horsey note. From now on in came the introduction of one after another of the new synthetics. Lower prices popularised the use of fragrance and soap perfumery blossomed.

Now for something I had been looking forward to - my first sniff of Fougere Royale by Houbigant created in 1884 and not available on the market since the 1960's. There was no mistaking the coumarin. Patricia told us there was about 50% coumarin, so much, that the formula could not be compounded as a concentrate. In those days the fragrances were always compounded directly into the alcohol. The idea of the overdose came early in the history of the use of synthetics in fragrance!

Fougere is French for fern, a plant that has no scent. Houbigant said, ' If God gave fern a scent it would be like Fougere Royale.'  A new fragrance category was born.

Le Trèfle Incarnat 1896 by L.T. Pivet followed. For me a more balanced fragrance with less coumarin - here was the first use of salicylates. I smelt ylang in the top and carnation notes on the dry down, with perhaps a hint of civet to round the fragrance. Both fragrances had lavender and oakmoss.

Absolutes arrived at the end of the 19^th century. Coty was young and new to perfumery at the time. He played with these new products with enthusiasm. The older houses like Houbigant were shy to use the powerful absolutes at first.  John Bailey had made a specific request to our President to sniff Coty's very first perfume La Rose Jaqueminot, launched in 1904.  He too had been inspired by the early 18^th century rose variety Jaqueminot.  Patricia showed us Coty's fragrance which contained rhodinol as well as rose absolute. Patricia told us the following anecdote about Rose Jaqueminot. Apparently Coty had dropped a bottle in a Parisian shop in anger and frustration, because everyone refused to stock his creation.  Women smelling it (perhaps planted by Coty??) demanded to know where they could buy it. 

Synthetics continued to appear one by one. Aldehyde C14 brought its peachy fruitiness to Le Fruit Défendu, (forbidden fruit) Poiret, 1914.  Pre-dating Femme by over 20 years, it did feel to me like a surprising leap into modern perfumery.  Several people also noticed the coconut note of aldehyde C18.

Patricia then took us through some examples from the Osmothèque classification of fragrances (a new edition will be available next year), still concentrating on fragrances that are no longer available on the market.

Citrus

We traveled back in time again to 1798, to smell Eau de Lubin from the citrus family (hespéridée in French).

A more modern citrus, was Green Water J. Fath created by Vincent Roubert and launched in 1947. We found a minty note there - still very on trend in 2008.

Floral bouquet

Parfum Ideal, Houbigant, 1900 was the first fragrance to move from single florals to a bouquet; it contained coumarin and salicylates. The ylang in the top was very evident for me and rose was apparent in the dry out.

We looked at Quelques Fleurs, Houbigant, 1912 based on lilac. It was the first time hydroxy citronellal was used and also the aldehydes; though more discreetly than in the later Chanel No. 5, Chanel, 1921.

It was a treat to smell the original versions of some of these fragrances - Chanel No. 5 with its high quality naturals and Vent Vert, a green floral, which seemed more akin to its derivative Fidji, than the current market version. We learned about Germaine Cellier one of the first female perfumers - creator of Fracas, Piguet, 1948 and Vent Vert, Balmain.  1947.

Floral woody fruity

Iris Gris, J Fath, 1947 another fragrance created by Vincent Roubert. As the name indicated it was full of natural iris. Patricia made an interesting comment that perfumers tend to love iris, but the public is not so keen. Roger Duprey noted the similarity to the Prada Iris of today.

Fougère

We loved Jicky, which must be one of the earliest fragrances still available today. Launched in 1889 by Guerlain, it boasted the first use of linalool ex bois de rose, also contained coumarin and vanillin. It was created for men but became very popular for women to wear.

Chypre

We smelt a rather uninviting looking black paste made to a formula from 1700. Known generically as Oyselet de Chypre (Little birds of Cyprus), this example really smelt strongly of oakmoss, wonderful to feast the nose on. Regulatory restrictions mean that we are unable to use such high levels today.

Smelling Chypre de Coty, Coty, 1917, Patricia indicated the difficult task of trying to keep the raw materials Osmothèque uses true to the original qualities. The oakmoss used in Chypre de Coty was an infusion of the botanical in alcohol, not a current practice for oakmoss extraction. Infusions such as patchouli and natural musk were typically stored for a year before they were considered ready for use, a custom not  considered commercially viable these days.

Another classic I had been looking forward to was Crepe de Chine, Millot, 1925. It was beautifully balanced with aldehydic notes blended with the moss and a floral accord.

Patricia explained that the first brand to give samples certainly did it with style. The story goes, that bottles of Ma Griffe, Carven were dropped out of an aeroplane and floated down with tiny green parachutes onto the streets of Paris. This must have been quite a sight just after the war in 1946.

Spicy floral amber

L'Origan, Coty, 1905 was a gorgeous smooth blend. It heralded later fragrances like Poison with the first use of methyl anthranilate. Other notes were heliotropin, carnation, orange flower and amber. It was used to fragrance face powder and boxes of the powder were sent all over the world.

Leather

Inspiration for perfumers comes from many places. We learned that Ernest Beaux wanted a nostalgic dash of the leather from the boots of the dancers in the Russion ballet in his fragrance. He was a Russian perfumer who left his homeland at the time of the revolution and created Cuir de Russie for Chanel in 1924.

Patricia was very pleased to welcome the BSP to Osmothèque and hoped that there would be more contact between the SPF  and the BSP in the future. Patricia gave us a thought for a future BSP trip – a visit to the Christian Dior house in GrandVille, Normandy. (www.musee-dior-granville.com)

Finally our heart felt thanks to Patricia giving generously of her time to bring to us the wondrous, lovingly cared for, treasures of Osmothèque.

Marianne Martin

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