‎WILLIAMS, Helen Maria: (1769-1827).‎
‎A tour in Switzerland; or, a view of the present state of the governments and manners of those Cantons: with comparative sketches of the present state of Paris. In 2 volumes. (The second vol. incudes the appendix of 83 p. on the ‘Observations on the Glaciers, by M. Ramond’.‎

‎London: G. and J. Robinson, M.DCC.XCVIII, (1798), in-8vo, Vol. 1) 8 leaves (first blanc, half-title - title - preface - contents) + 354 p. ; (Vol 2) VIII + 352 p., some foxing here and there, ex libris Peter E. Obergfell, contemporary half morocco, gilt. A fine copy.‎

Reference : 140219aaf

‎Réédition from the 1796 edition by Miss Williams, an early lady traveller, living in France for most of her life. Her enthusiasm for the principles of the French Revolution gained her numerous enemies, and her trip to Switzerland was made as something of an escape. "It was by her political writings that she was best known, and these, even now, are worth reading, not as history of events, but of one, and that an important, phase of opinion and thought". DNB. ‘On the St. Gotthard pass the monks told Miss Williams that the day before her arrival, ‘a numerous retinue of horses, oxen, mules and other cattle, had passed in the suite of a great man, whose carriage they had dragged, by his order, from the bottom of the mountain, that he might have the fame of crossing St. Gotthard in a vehicle with wheels..’. (de Beer). de Beer, Travellers in Switzerland p. 102 (le voyage de Madame Williams en 1794); Wäber 50; Perret 4580-B. Image disp.‎