Pre-production imagery
Woody Amber
The Library
Leather-bound spines, pipe tobacco forgotten in a waistcoat pocket, the last embers of an oak fire.
£95 founding price · £110 thereafter
Tobacco leaf and orris over cedar and benzoin. Warm, dry and entirely unhurried.
The Founding Hundred
The first hundred to register become founding members.
- Free, and commits you to nothing
- Forty-eight hours before anyone else
- £95 a bottle, rather than £110
Made to order: three first, in time for Christmas, guided by which you ask for.
We will confirm your place, and write once more when pre-orders open; nothing else unless you tick the box above. Every email has a link to remove your details.
- Complimentary UK delivery from £95
- Thirty-day returns on unopened bottles
The Notes
- Top
- Pink pepper, cardamom, bergamot
- Heart
- Tobacco leaf, papyrus, orris
- Base
- Virginia cedar, labdanum, benzoin
The Composition
The Library begins with a quiet spark of pink pepper and green cardamom, the sort of brightness that comes from a match struck in a dim room.
At its heart, cured tobacco leaf and papyrus recall old paper and older bindings, softened by the powdery restraint of orris. Virginia cedar, labdanum and benzoin form a base that is warm without ever becoming sweet. A fragrance for long evenings and short sentences.
Wearing it
One spray at the throat and one at the inside of the wrist, a little before dinner. At its best from autumn into winter, on cashmere and corduroy. It grows warmer and closer as the evening goes on.
Delivery & Returns
Nothing is dispatched yet, because we are not taking orders yet; when pre-orders open, we will give you the dispatch date before you pay. Delivery is by tracked courier, complimentary within the United Kingdom on orders from £95 and on every order that includes the Discovery Set; otherwise £4.95.
Unopened bottles may be returned within thirty days for a full refund.
The inspiration
The library, after dinner
Panelled walls, a fire allowed to burn low, and a room where nobody has raised their voice in two hundred years.
The fragrance in full
About The Library
The Library, a woody amber eau de parfum of tobacco leaf and orris, is the library after dinner: panelled walls, a fire allowed to burn low, and a room where nobody has raised their voice in two hundred years. Leather-bound spines, pipe tobacco forgotten in a waistcoat pocket, the last embers of an oak fire. If you have looked for a perfume that smells like old books, this is the House’s answer.
Woody amber means a warm base of woods and resins rather than flowers. Here the amber is labdanum and benzoin, laid over Virginia cedar, and it is kept deliberately dry: warm, but never sweet. Labdanum is the gum of the rockrose, dark and faintly leathery; benzoin is a balsam, softer, with a little vanilla in it.
It begins with a quiet spark of pink pepper and green cardamom, with a little bergamot, the sort of brightness that comes from a match struck in a dim room. At its heart, cured tobacco leaf and papyrus recall old paper and older bindings, and orris, the root of the iris, gives them a powdery restraint. Virginia cedar, labdanum and benzoin form the base.
The tobacco is the leaf, not the smoke. It smells of a tin of pipe tobacco just opened, honeyed and dry, rather than of an ashtray; and the papyrus and orris turn it towards paper, so that the whole thing reads as a room full of books rather than a room full of smokers.
It is a fragrance for long evenings and short sentences. Worn close, it suits the hour after dinner when the conversation has slowed and somebody has put another log on the fire.
How it wears
The Library is an evening fragrance, happiest from autumn into winter. One spray at the throat and one at the inside of the wrist, a little before dinner, is enough.
It suits cashmere and corduroy, a velvet jacket, a jumper that has been sat in by the fire. Wear it to dinner at home, to a concert, to a long conversation in a quiet bar, or simply to read. It grows warmer and closer as the evening goes on.
On a hot afternoon or in a crowded office it is less at ease; for those, the House would choose The Orangery or Henley, and keep The Library for after dark.
Questions about The Library
What does The Library smell like?
A struck match of pink pepper and cardamom, then cured tobacco leaf, papyrus and powdery orris, over Virginia cedar, labdanum and benzoin. Warm, dry and unhurried, with the smell of old paper running through it.
Does The Library smell like old books?
That is the memory it was composed around. Papyrus and orris give it the dry, slightly powdery smell of old paper, tobacco leaf and cedar the smell of the shelves and the room. It is a library, rather than a single book.
Is The Library smoky?
Not really. The tobacco is cured leaf, honeyed and dry, rather than smoke. If you would like smoke, Highland is the smoky one of the six, with peat smoke and lapsang tea.
What fragrance family is The Library?
Woody amber: a warm base of woods and resins rather than flowers. The amber here is labdanum and benzoin over Virginia cedar. There is more in our note on amber.
Can I try The Library before choosing a bottle?
Yes. The Discovery Set holds all six of our eaux de parfum in 2 ml atomisers, so you can wear The Library for an evening beside the others. Its £38 is credited in full against your first bottle, or The Pair.
When can I order The Library?
Not quite yet. Register free with the form above; it commits you to nothing. We make three fragrances first, in time for Christmas, guided by which ones people ask for, and the other three in the new year. The first hundred to register become founding members, with 48 hours to pre-order before anyone else: £95 founding price, £110 after.
