Little book of formulas
The little book of formulas is the written record of Grenouille's perfume recipes, compiled by Baldini during Grenouille's apprenticeship. It represents the translation of Grenouille's innate, unteachable olfactory genius into the conventional language of the perfumer's craft, and becomes the tangible embodiment of Baldini's stolen success and the foundation of his European empire. Its loss in the collapse of Baldini's house marks the complete erasure of Grenouille's documented legacy and the end of Baldini's fortune.
Creation and Compilation
The little book of formulas was born from Baldini's desperate need to control and document Grenouille's miraculous but chaotic method of perfume creation. Initially, Grenouille composed his scents in a totally unprofessional manner, mixing ingredients impromptu and in apparent wild confusion, without using scales, measuring glasses, or pipettes. Baldini, unable to control the process but hoping to understand it, demanded that Grenouille adopt the disciplined procedures of a craftsman: using measuring tools, regarding alcohol as a solvent rather than a fragrance, and working at a slower pace. Grenouille complied, and for the first time Baldini was able to follow and document the individual manoeuvres. With paper and pen in hand, constantly urging a slower pace, Baldini sat next to Grenouille and jotted down how many drams of this, how many level measures of that, how many drops of some other ingredient wandered into the mixing bottles. This was a curious after-the-fact method for analysing a procedure, but once Baldini had entered the formulas in his little book and entrusted them to his safe and his bosom, he no longer doubted that they were now his and his alone.
The Book as Baldini's Treasure
For Baldini, the little book of formulas became the most precious object he possessed, more valuable than his house, his business, or his raw materials. After Grenouille's departure, Baldini laid a hand to his chest and felt, beneath the cloth of his coat, that little book beside his beating heart. Six hundred formulas were recorded there, more than a whole generation of perfumers would ever be able to implement. He believed that if he were to lose everything today, he could, with just this wonderful little book, be a rich man once again within a year. The book was the guarantee of his continued prosperity and the proof that he had successfully plundered Grenouille's genius. He slept with it beneath his pillow, the pressure of the little book of formulas pleasantly palpable.
Loss and Destruction
The little book of formulas was destroyed when the west side of the Pont au Change collapsed between the third and fourth piers, hurling two buildings into the river. Giuseppe Baldini and his wife Teresa were killed instantly. Nothing was found—not the bodies, not the safe, not the little book with its six hundred formulas. The book, along with Baldini's entire inheritance—house, business, raw materials, laboratory—vanished completely. The only thing that remained of Giuseppe Baldini, Europe's greatest perfumer, was a very motley odour of musk, cinnamon, vinegar, lavender, and a thousand other things that for several weeks floated high above the Seine from Paris to Le Havre. The book's loss was absolute and final, erasing the only written record of Grenouille's formulas and ensuring that his art could never be reproduced from documentation alone.
