IPBA The Perfume Roads by Creezy Courtoy

Follow author Creezy Courtoy on a journey to discover the ‘perfume roads’ of the Middle-East, Far East and the West.  The book includes over 280 photographs (mostly unpublished) from the Courtoy Collection.  It is an incredible story of how precious perfume was for many civilizations.  Starting with ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, and ending with perfumes of Germany, Russia and the Americas, the reader is transported around the world with tales of perfume history and pictures of rare perfume containers and burners

The Courtoy Collection includes ancient perfume vessels, cosmetic containers, pomanders, perfume sprinklers, figural perfume bottles and commercial presentations.  There are wonderful chapters about perfume history in India, South East Asia, China and Japan.  This is of special interest as not much has been published about perfume in these regions.

There is a chapter entitled ‘Famous Travelers and their Discoveries’.  It highlights the commercial importance of the ‘The Perfume Roads’ which, for centuries, encouraged competition among countries and fueled the search for new maritime routes, new worlds and new wealth.

The author, Creezy Courtoy, is an historian and anthropologist specializing in perfume.  She is also Founder and Chair of the non-profit International Perfume Foundation. Its mission is education, protection and preservation of perfume heritage.