CLEOPATRA'S BOUDOIR

Eugene Rimmel's Book of Perfumes appeared in London in 1865, and almost simultaneously in a Parisian edition. The work by this writer/perfumer was the most accurate and clear presentation of the industry to appear at that time. The book was especially clear on the use of perfumes in the East-a subject that was beginning to pique the European imagination. The paper used in the book was itself perfumed.

Eugene Rimmel also created Perfume Almanacs. Their pages filled with illustrations of flowers, the ever so famous Language of Flowers and other interesting tidbids.

This original 1863 almanac advertises E. Rimmel of London and Paris. It is printed in exquisite color and metallic gold accents with meticulous attention to detail. Like all the Rimmel almanacs that I have seen, this one has a theme - THE LANGUAGE of FLOWERS.

Each of the six interior pages features a beautiful lady from a different country surrounded by flowers - each also has a two-month calendar, a four-line verse, and a small vignette that represents the featured country. The countries represented are Russia, France, England, Germany, Spain, and Turkey.

The back cover has a vignette of the Rimmel perfume fountain at the Crystal Palace Exhibition and lists the company's products, including perfumes, soaps, toiletries, dentifrice, and perfumed Valentines.

Also specifically mentioned in the booklet is that it was printed using a special process - probably an early example of multicolor chromolithography.

3 1/2" x 5 1/8" open.

Another type of almanac was in the shape of a fan. This rare 1875 Fan from Rimmel's Perfumery, Paris, has fabulous caricature figures for each month, the condition is not great as there is quite a lot of age discoloration, especially on the back (second picture) but the graphics are wonderful but not signed, each section is 4 3/4" x 2 1/4".