Following the earlier Penhaligon scented treasuries, this book illustrated with rich period paintings, has a slipcase, silk marker ribbon and endpapers scented with Violetta. It comprises descriptions of 40 English flowers and explains the origins and legends behind each one. Included is a selection of poems and prose in which romantic writers have alluded to camellias, lavender, liles and the rose. William Penhaligon founded his perfumery in 1870 supplying exclusive fragrances to the English aristocrasy. It was Sheila Pickles, the editor who revived the declining company when she took it over in 1875.