Table of Contents

Table of Contents


Table of illustrations

Introduction

Chapter one: Our unique sense of smell

Is science always objective?    

A sense of danger, emotions, and delight
    
Chapter 2: A Pervasive stench   

The foul air of medieval towns  

Urban cess pits

The smell of profit  

Pollutant trades

Countryside smells   

Chapter three: Joyous matter
    
A scholarly culture of scatology

Aromatic blasons

Humour in the conte  

The Way to Succeed   

Odorous wind   

Chapter four: Scent of a woman
   
Demonising the smell of women   

When ladies did not smell of roses   

At arm's length

Guilty women   

A breath of eroticism
 
The gutter press

A literary stink

Death and the old woman

Demonic pleasure

Chapter five: The Devil's breath
 
Venomous vapours

Plague-ridden towns  

Perfume as armour    

Perfumed rituals

Rue, vinegar and tobacco
    
Pomanders 

Chapter six: Musky scents
   
Fountains of youth   

Ambergris, musk and civet
   
The perfumed glove trade  

The eroticism of leather  

Nothing new under the Sun King?
  
Drawing death's sting

The great animal slaughter
  
Chapter seven: Civilising floral essences
   
The perfume revolution    

Luxuriating in baths of scent   

Sensual faces  

Bodily hair care

The scent of powder  

The emperor's perfumer    

Conclusion

Bibliography

     A note on quotations

     Principle manuscript sources

     Primary sources

     Selected bibliography

About the Author

Robert Muchembled is a writer and Honorary Professor at the University of Paris.

Reviews

“Mr. Muchembled’s fine-grained and evocative research shows how eloquent smell can be in helping us understand the past.” 
The Wall Street Journal “Muchembled reminds us that the variables of time and place may defy a truly shared language. What we smell depends on what’s in vogue and what’s valued—on what cultural forces happen to be swirling in the air.”
The New Yorker

“In this fascinating study, with unexpected twists and turns, Robert Muchembled explores the opaque topic of smell as if he were discovering a new continent that is as rich as it is mysterious.”
Historia “A rigorous, rich and lively book.”
Les Cahiers de Science & Vie
"Smells is part scholarly treatise, part fascinating popular history, dashed through with a soupçon of wit."
Foreword Reviews
"This lively book combines scholarship with readability and ranges from plague to perfume, from the stink of cities to jokes about smelly people. Its interesting examples should appeal to an equally wide range of readers." 
Peter Burke, University of Cambridge

"Robert Muchembled’s new history is full of disgusting, delicious details… If you’ve ever wondered how living without modern technologies of sanitation might have shaped the surrounding culture, this book is for you."
Slate
"Lively"
London Review of Books "delightful carnival of olfaction" 
The Spectator
"Smells’s mélange of the scholarly with the scatalogical makes for a dazzling, lusty romp through European history."
Foreword Reviews "An illuminating piece of social history."
Fortean Times 'Book of the Week' in The Daily Mail "Captivating… Elegantly wicked and meticulous in its execution" 
The Australian

"engrossing"
Frieze