author
Marie de Ujfalvy-Bourdon
1845–1904
A French traveler and ethnographer, she turned long journeys across Central Asia and the Himalayas into vivid travel writing. Her books mix close observation, curiosity, and the perspective of a woman moving through places few European readers knew firsthand.
1 Audiobook
Voyage d'une Parisienne dans l'Himalaya occidental
by Marie de Ujfalvy-Bourdon
About the author
Born Clarice Virginie Marie Bourdon in Chartres in 1842, she became known as Marie de Ujfalvy-Bourdon after her marriage to the linguist and ethnographer Charles-Eugène de Ujfalvy. French reference sources describe her as a traveler, writer, and ethnographer, and record that she belonged to the Société de géographie.
She is best remembered for the journeys she made with her husband through Central Asia, Kashmir, and the western Himalayas in the late nineteenth century. Alongside travel writing, she helped with documentation and photography, and her published works introduced French readers to regions such as Samarkand, Ferghana, Kulja, and western Siberia through lively, first-hand accounts.
Her books include De Paris à Samarkand, le Ferghanah, le Kouldja et la Sibérie occidentale and Voyage d'une Parisienne dans l'Himalaya occidental. Library and biographical records place her death in 1904; while some sources differ on the exact birth date, they consistently identify her as an important French woman traveler of the nineteenth century.