Perfume : The Story of a Murderer (SIGNED Plus MOVIE TIE-INS)

Suskind, Patrick; Woods, John E. (translator)

ISBN 10: 0394550846 / ISBN 13: 9780394550848

Published by Alfred A. Knopf Incorporated, New York, NY, U.S.A., 1986

About this Item

1st American Edition/1st Printing. SIGNED and inscribed by PATRICK SUSKIND on a bookplate decal affixed to half-title page $16.95 price present on DJ flap; mylar protected. previous owners inscription on backside of front end page. Laid-in (not attached) are several items from 2006 film version of novel. Laid-in is a color photo SIGNED by BEN WHISHAW (played 'Jean-Baptist Grenouille'). Also laid-in is a color photo sheet SIGNED by ALAN RICKMAN (played 'Antoine Richis'); a color photo SIGNED by TOM TYKWER (the film's Director and screenwriter) ; a commemrative postal envelope SIGNED by SIAN THOMAS (played 'Madame Gaillard'); a color photo SIGNED by KATHLINE HURFURTH (played 'The Plum Girl'); a photo card SIGNED by SIMON CHANDLER (played 'Mayor of Grasse'); and a card SIGNED and inscribed by DAVID CALDER (played 'Bishop of Grasse'). Author's first book. Very scarce signature from recclusive author Suskind. Unique copy for the Suskind--Perfume fan or collector. NOTE: No international orders for this item. Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Seller Inventory # 045757

Bibliographic Details

Title: Perfume : The Story of a Murderer (SIGNED ...

Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf Incorporated, New York, NY, U.S.A.

Publication Date: 1986

Binding: Hard Cover

Condition: Near Fine +

Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine+

Signed: Signed by Author

Edition: 1st Edition

About this title

Synopsis:

The year is 1738; the place, Paris. A baby is born under a fish-monger's bloody table in a marketplace, and abandoned. Orphaned, passed over to the monks as a charity case, already there is something in the aura of the tiny infant that is unsettling. No one will look after him; he is somehow too demanding, and, even more disturbing, something is missing: as his wet nurse tries to explain, he doesn't smell the way a baby should smell; indeed, he has no scent at all.

Slowly, as we watch Jean-Baptiste Grenouille cling stubbornly to life, we begin to realize that a monster is growing before our eyes. With mounting unease, yet hypnotized, we see him explore his powers and their effect on the world around him. For this dark and sinister boy who has no smell himself possesses an absolute sense of smell, and with it he can read the world to discover the hidden truths that elude ordinary men. He can smell the very composition of objects, and their history, and where they have been, he has no need of the light, and darkness is not dark to him, because nothing can mask the odors of the universe.

As he leaves childhood behind and comes to understand his terrible uniqueness, his obsession becomes the quest to identify, and then to isolate, the most perfect scent of all, the scent of life itself.

At first, he hones his powers, learning the ancient arts of perfume-making until the exquisite fragrances he creates are the rage of Paris, and indeed Europe. Then, secure in his mastery of these means to an end, he withdraws into a strange and agonized solitude, waiting, dreaming, until the morning when he wakes, ready to embark on his monstrous quest: to find and extract from the most perfect living creatures--the most beautiful young virgins in the land-- that ultimate perfume which alone can make him, too, fully human. As his trail leads him, at an ever-quickening pace, from his savage exile to the heart of the country and then back to Paris, we are caught up in a rising storm of terror and mortal sensual conquest until the frenzy of his final triumph explodes in all its horrifying consequences.

Told with dazzling narrative brilliance and the haunting power of a grown-up fairy tale, Perfume is one of the most remarkable novels of the last fifty years.

About the Author:

Patrick Süskind was born in Ambach, near Munich, in 1949. After a problem with his hands made it impossible for him to pursue his ambitions as a concert pianist, Süskind enrolled in the University of Munich, where he studied medieval and modern history. His first play, The Double Bass, written in 1980, became an international success, performed in Germany, in Switzerland, at the Edinburgh Festival, in London, and at the New Theatre in Brooklyn. His first novel, Perfume, became a globally acclaimed bestseller with more than fifteen million copies sold worldwide. Mr. Süskind lives and writes in Munich.