Fragrances of the World by Michael Edwards (fragrance expert), the creator of the Fragrance Wheel, is considered a reference for retailers, perfumers, perfume lovers and users. It is a comprehensive classification system of fragrances worldwide, universally regarded as the industry’s fragrance ‘bible’. The book has been updated yearly since 2000 (except 2002):
The 2011 edition, Fragrances of the World 2011: Parfums du Monde contains listings of over 8,000 prestige, mass-market, travel retail and limited edition fragrances listed by house and fragrance family, including 850 new fragrances since the 2010 edition, Fragrances of the World 2010: Parfums Du Monde 2010.
The book has an online version, FragrancesOfTheWorld.Info, which contains all the information in the book and more. Moreover, the electronic version allows easy navigation, search and sort for over 11,000 fragrances (by brand, gender, country, year of launch and parent company) and contains information on the perfumers, notes, bottle designer of each scent.
Fragrances are classified based on The Fragrance Wheel, created by Edwards in 1992, which groups fragrances into fragrance families and subgroups of these families according to their dominant notes that give them their particular character and overall scent.
In 2004 and 2007 the classification system won the FiFi award for "Technological Breakthrough of the Year".
Edwards is the author of the book Perfume Legends: French Feminine Fragrances, 1996. (ISBN 0-646-27794-4). The book exposed the secret world of perfumery and became a cult classic given its in-depth historical research.