Books
Parmi la jeunesse russe — De Moscou au Caucase
1929 Ella Maillart is in Berlin, after having dreamed, in vain, of spending her life at sea. She teaches English and devotes herself to the cinema, as an extra, in the studios where Marlene Dietrich is filming in “The Blue Angel”. This is a time when Eisenstein and the Russian cinema arouse great interest. She meets Russian émigrés. Twelve years after the Revolution, the Soviet regime remains an enigma. Ella, 26, decides to venture into the unknown. She succeeds in obtaining a visa for the USSR and arrives in Moscow in 1930, in a country struck by famine and turmoil. With freshness, she writes down what she sees, participates in sports activities and manages to joins a group of young Russians that leaves to discover the Svaneti region, crossing the central Caucasus massif on foot through the Bakshan valley and the Betcho pass. On her return to Paris, Alain Gerbault made her tell her adventures to the publisher Charles Fasquelle. Stunned, the latter encourages her to write them straight away. Parmi la jeunesse russe recounts her experiences in Moscow and the Caucasus. (No English translation.)
In French:
Fasquelle Editeurs, Paris, 1932; Edipresse Livres, Lausanne, 1989;
Editions Payot & Rivages, Paris, 1995, 1997, 2003, 2017
In German:
Ausser Kurs - Eine junge Schweizerin in der revolutionären Sovietunion
(eFeF Verlag, Zürich, 1989)
Ausser Kurs – Die Reise einer mutigen Frau in die unendlichen Weiten Russlands
(Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, München, 1993)
Auf kühner Reise – Von Moskau in den Kaukasus (Lenos Pocket, Basel, 2006)
Turkestan Solo
1932 Ella Maillart travels through Russian Turkestan which the Soviet revolutionaries are trying to westernize. On horseback, she crosses Kirghizstan to the T'ien Shan, the Celestial Mountains. On makeshift skis, she managed to climb a 5000-meter high mountain on the border with China. Without a permit, avoiding dangerous crossing points, she investigates in Tashkent, Samarkand, and Bukhara, and descends the Amou Daria. On a camel, in the icy wind, the crosses the Red Sands Desert, east of the Aral Sea.
In French - Des monts célestes aux sables Rouges :
Editions Bernard Grasset, Paris, 1934; Edito-Service SA, Cercle du bibliophile, Genève, 1971;
Editions 24 heures, Lausanne, 1985; Edipresse Livres, Lausanne, 1987;
Editions Payot & Rivages, Paris, 1990, 1991, 2001, 2017
In English:
Turkestan Solo - One Woman's Expedition from the Tien Shan to the Kizil Kum
(G.P. Putnam's Sons, London, 1934; W. Heinemann, London/Toronto, 1938; and
Century Publishing, London, 1985)
Turkestan Solo – A Journey through Central Asia (I.B. Tauris, London , 2005)
In German:
Turkestan Solo (Ernst Rowohlt Verlag, Stuttgart/Berlin, 1938)
Turkestan Solo – Eine Frau reist durch die Sowjetunion
(Edition Erdmann / K. Thienemanns Verlag, Stuttgart, 1990)
Turkestan Solo – Eine abenteuerliche Reise ins Ungewisse
(Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, München, 1992, und Frederking & Thaler Verlag, München, 2001)
In Italian:
Vagabonda nel Turkestan – Una donna in viaggio da Samarcanda al Deserto delle Sabbie Rosse (EDT – Edizioni di Torino, 1995, 2002). Vagabonda nel Turkestan (EDT, Torino, 2022)
In Dutch:
Toerkestan solo (Ed. Unieboek BV, 1990);
Turkestan solo - Een vrouw op weg naar Samarkand, 1932 (Ed. Querido Fosfor, Amsterdam, 2022)
In Kirghiz:
Тенир-Тоодон Къιзьιл-Кумга (Du Tian Shan au Kyzyl-Kum), Editions Typap, Bishkek, Kirghizistan, 2011
In Polish:
Od Gór Niebianskich Do Czerwonych Piasków (Panstwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, Warszawa, 2007)
Forbidden Journey - From Peking to Cashmir
1935 Ella Maillart accomplishes with the English journalist Peter Fleming an astonishing raid through one of the most secret regions of the globe: from the Koko Nor to Central Asia, via the plateau of Tsaidam, the Takla Makan desert, the Tarim basin, and from Kashgar across the Karakoram to Hunza. Japan was trying to crush a China ravaged by civil war when they leave Peking. With Fleming, she plots her itinerary to India by a forbidden route that no Westerner seems to have traveled after them. This is the story of seven months of risks, in solitudes where great civilizations once rubbed shoulders for those who know how to read the carcasses, the ruins and the winds. Never again will the western provinces of China be seen in that way. Published in 1937, this book has been re-edited ever since, and reread for the courage and talent of its author, for the accurancy of her vision and her gift for narrative.
In French:
Editions Bernard Grasset, Paris, 1937; Le Livre du mois, Lausanne, 1971; Editions 24 heures, Lausanne, 1982;
Edipresse Livres, Lausanne, 1987; Editions Payot & Rivages, Paris, préface de Nicolas Bouvier, 1989, 1994, 2002, 2004; Editions Payot & Rivages, Paris, Série Collector (avec les photographies de l’édition originale de 1937), préface de Nicolas Bouvier, 2018
In English:
Forbidden Journey - From Peking to Cashmir (W. Heinemann, London, 1937; Holt Rinehart, New York , 1949; Century Publishing, London, introduction by Dervla Murphy, 1983; North-Western University Press, Evanston, Ill., 2003.
In Japanese:
Fujinkisha no Tairiku Senkouki (Clandestine Journey of a Reporter to the Continent), translation by Yoshihigo Taga, Sogensha Publishers, 1938.
In German:
Verbotene Reise - Von Peking nach Kaschmir (Rowohlt Verlag, Berlin, 1938);
Verbotene Reise – Eine Frau reist durch Zentralasien (Edition Erdmann / K. Thienemanns Verlag, Stuttgart, 1988); Verbotene Reise – Die Expedition einer unerschrockenen Frau durch Zentralasien (Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, München, 1996); Verbotene Reise - Von Peking nach Kaschmir (Vorwort von Nicolas Bouvier, Lenos Verlag, Basel, 2003)
In Spanish:
Oasis Prohibidos – De Pequin a Cachmira. Una mujer a través de Asia Central en 1935 (Ediciones Peninsula SA, Barcelona, 1999)
In Italian:
Oasi Proibite – Una donna in viaggio da Pechino al Kashmir (EDT – Edizioni di Torino, 2001, 2022)
Gypsy Afloat
1942 We know her to be an intrepid traveler, crisscrossing the Asian continent, crossing China with Peter Fleming, a country ruled by warlords, or entering the most secret parts of Turkestan. We have yet to discover the outstanding navigator, the first woman to compete in the Olympic Games in yachting events, Alain Gerbault's friend, dreaming of the South Seas, the "sailing vagabond" that she was in her youth. Here she is, barely disembarked in England, a cabin boy on the barge-yacht Volunteer, joining her friend Miette de Saussure on the Atalante, almost perishing in the Bay of Biscay, and returning to service in England... Is it necessary to insist on the exceptionality of such a choice of life? Ella Maillart wrote this book in English during her stay in India.
Gypsy Afloat (W. Heinemann, London, 1942)
In French:
La vagabonde des mers - Gypsy afloat (Editions Payot & Rivages, Paris, 1991, 1992, 2002, 2021)
In German:
Vagabundin des Meeres - Die Segel-Abenteuer einer Frau (Edition Erdmann / K. Thienemanns Verlag, Stuttgart, 1991); Vagabundin des Meeres - Eine unerschrockene Frau auf Hoher See (Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, München, 1993)
In Italian: La vagabonda dei mari (EDT Torino, 2023)
Cruises and Caravans
1950 An autobiographical story, commissioned by her English publisher during the years of the Second World War. The starting point of Cruises and Caravans is Lake Geneva where Ella Maillart first discovered sailing, to be continued in the Mediterranean. Her passion for this sport brought Ella Maillart to become friends with Alain Gerbault. But the world of the theatre and the cinema are equally appealing to her free and enterprising mind. Here we are in Berlin in the studios where Marlene Dietrich plays in The Blue Angel, then in Moscow among film directors and rowers. However, the traveler prevails over the actress, and the Caucasus opens the doors to a new continent. In 1932, she finds herself in Central Asia, crossing the Muslim republics of the USSR. The daring of this trek, on her own and on camel back, is already on a par with the exploits she will later narrate in Forbidden Journey. Back in Switzerland, she continues to race as a member of the national skiing team. Then she goes back to the East and returns overland through deserts and mountains to Kashgar and Kashmir. We also accompany her to Afghanistan and to India where she spends the Second World War following the teachings of Ramana Maharishi and Atmananda. Written in English:
First edition: J. M. Dent and Sons, London, 1942, and The Travel Book Club, London, 1942
In French:
Editions du Seuil, Paris, 1951; Editions de la Baconnière, Neuchâtel, 1951; Editions 24 heures, Lausanne, 1984; Edipresse Livres, Lausanne, 1987; Editions Payot & Rivages, Paris, 1993, 1995, 2001, 2017.
In German:
Leben ohne Rast - Eine Frau fährt durch die Welt (Verlag Eberhard Brockhaus, Wiesbaden, 1952)
In Italian:
Crociere e Carovane - La mia vita, i miei viaggi (EDT - Edizione di Torino, 2006, 2021)
The Cruel Way
1939 Ella Maillart goes to Asia once again, and she is not alone. Christina, whose real name is Annemarie Schwarzenbach, friend of Klaus and Erika Mann, accompanies her. Her charm and gifts are exceptional, but she is on drugs. Two courageous women, both of them incredibly original, find themselves in a difficult situation. Threats are hanging over them. An 18-horsepower Ford takes the two experienced travelers to Afghanistan, via Istanbul, Trebizond, Tehran, Herat. They face customs, roads under construction, fussy officials, crowds, and deserts. Ella Maillart brings to her story the precision of her vision, observation, the taste for encounters, the complicity with the nomads, the historical knowledge and ethnological approach of a great specialist of Asia. Written in English during her stay in India, Ella Maillart translated The Cruel Way into French on her return to Europe.
Original English edition:
The Cruel Way (W. Heinemann, London, 1947; Virago Press, London, 1986; Beacon Press, Boston, 1987; University of Chicago Press, 2013; John Murray, London, 2022
In French:
Editions Jeheber, Geneva, 1952; Edipresse Books, Lausanne, 1987; Editions Payot & Rivages, Paris, 1989, 1991, 2001, 2016
In German:
Auf abenteuerlicher Fahrt durch Iran und Afghanistan (Orell Füssli Verlag, Zürich, 1948); Flüchtige Idylle - Zwei Frauen unterwegs nach Afghanistan (eFeF Verlag, Zürich, 1988; Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, München, 1995);
Der bittere Weg - Mit Annemarie Schwarzenbach unterwegs nach Afghanistan (Lenos Verlag, Basel, 2001)
In Swedish: Genom Sagans Länder (Ed. Natur och Kultur, Stockholm, 1952)
Dutch edition: Zo wees dan een Columbus - Met een Ford door de Woestijn (Ed. Republiek der Letteren, Amsterdam, 1949)
In Spanish:
La Ruta Cruel - Un Viaje por Turquia, Persia y Afganistan (Editorial Labor, Barcelona, 1955);
El Camino Cruel – Un Viaje por Turquia, Persia y Afghanistán con Annemarie Schwarzenbach (Ed. La Linia del Horizonte, Madrid, 2015)
In Italian:
La Via crudele - Due donne in viaggio dall' Europa a Kabul (EDT – Edizioni di Torino, 1993, 2002, 2021)
In Portuguese: A via cruel, preface by Frédéric Vitoux (Livraria Civilisacao Editora, Porto, 2000)
In Serbian:
Okrutni put - Dve žene i ford na putu za Avganistan, preface by Frédéric Vitoux
(Za srpski jesik JP Sluzbeni glasnik, Belgrade, 2017)
'Ti-Puss
1945-1950 Follow the cat ! During her stay in South India (1940 - 1945), Ella Maillart was taught by two masters of wisdom, Ramana Maharishi and Atmananda (Krishna Menon). Retired from a war-torn Europe, she leads an almost ascetic life and questions her mirror: a tabby she has named 'Ti-Puss. The remarkable animal reveals to the traveler that there is audacity in wanting to live in the present moment, in seeking the authenticity of existence in the most everyday activities and settings. It is this cat that encourages the author to live the spiritual lessons in the concrete world. For a cat, says Ella Maillart, embodies the fullness of being. Written in English:
'Ti-Puss (W. Heinemann, London, 1951)
In French:
Editions La Tramontane, Renens / Lausanne, 1979; Edipresse Livres, Lausanne, 1990;
Editions Payot & Rivages, Paris, 1992, 1996, 2002
In German:
Ti-Puss - Drei Jahre in Südindien mit einer Katze als Kamarad (Albert Müller Verlag, Zürich, 1954)
Ti-Puss - Mit einer Katze in Indien (Edition Ebersbach, Dortmund, 1998)
Geliebte Seidenpfote - Mit einer Katze alleine durch Indien (Piper Verlag, München, 2002)
Ti-Puss - Drei Jahre in Indien mit meiner Katze (Lenos Verlag, Basel, 2023)
In Dutch:
Atlas Uitgeverdij BV, Amsterdam
In Italian:
Ti-Puss (EDT – Edizioni di Torino, 2002, 2021)
The Land of the Sherpas
1951 Ella Maillart obtains the exceptional authorisation to visit Nepal, the last independent kingdom of the Himalayas. This country, still unknown and closed, with a few exceptions, until 1949, has everything to fascinate her. She spends two months in Kathmandu and crosses the Malemtchi valley to the sacred lake of Gosainkund. Numerous photographs illustrate this story.
In English: The Land of the Sherpas (Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1955)
In Spanish: La tierra de los sherpas (Thushita edicions, Barcelona, 2016)
Edition originale en français : Au pays des Sherpas, préface de Denis Bertholet, édition établie et annotée par Pierre-François Mettan (Edition Zoé, Genève, 2017)
Edition allemande : Im Land der Sherpas (Nagel & Kimche Verlag, Zürich, 2018)
La Vie immédiate (photo book)
This album presents some 200 photographs of Ella Maillart, accompanied by texts by her friend Nicolas Bouvier. This great traveler retraces the milestones of an extraordinary life, "redoing" Ella Maillart's many routes and inviting the reader to leave, in turn, to discover the world.
In French. Editions Payot, Paris & Editions 24 heures, Lausanne, 1991.
Ella Maillart au Népal (photo book)
Based on a book project conceived by Ella Maillart, this volume includes some one hundred photographs taken during her trips to Nepal in 1951, 1963, and 1965. This kingdom of the Himalayas, closed to foreigners until 1949, aroused the curiosity and wonder of Ella Maillart who knew she could find there a culture, religions and landscapes close to those of "India a thousand years ago." In French. Presented and edited by Daniel Girardin, Photo Elysée, Lausanne.
Editions Acted sud, Arles, 1999.
Ella Maillart / Nicolas Bouvier : Témoins d'un monde disparu
This book in postcard format combines 20 of the most stunning photographs of the famous traveler, and the most beautiful essay written about her, the one by Nicolas Bouvier. In French. Minizoé, Editions Zoé, Geneva, 2002.
Ella Maillart sur les routes de l'Orient (photo book)
This collection of approximately 130 photographs was published on the occasion of a retrospective exhibition organised by the Elysée Museum and Olympic Museum (Lausanne, Switzerland) to mark the centenary of Ella Maillart's birth. The selected images retrace on the one hand her sporting career and secondly her early journeys in Asia. In French. Presented and edited by Daniel Girardin, Elysée Museum, Lausanne. Editions Actes sud, Arles, 2003.
Unsterbliches Blau - Reisen nach Afghanistan
Bleu immortel - Voyages en Afghanistan
A bi-lingual work which brings together texts and photographs taken during two different trips from Geneva to Afghanistan: that of Annemarie Schwarzenbach and Ella Maillart in 1939, and that of Nicolas Bouvier and Thierry Vernet in 1953. The reconstitution of the two trips is an attempt to recover, through images, the memory of what is no longer. Presentation and postface by Roger Perret, curator of the exhibition on the same subject, La voie cruelle, la voie heureuse – Annemarie Schwarzenbach, Ella Maillart, Nicolas Bouvier. Verlag Scheidegger & Spiess (Zurich) & Editions Zoé (Genève), 2003. In French and German.
Cette réalité que j'ai pourchassée
Collection of 30 letters addressed by Ella Maillart to her parents between 1925 and 1941, the period of her famous journeys. Illustrated with black and white photographs and accompanied (for the 2003 edition) by a CD featuring radio interviews with Ella Maillart. In the 2013 edition, the letters are supplemented by articles written for various newspapers and magazines, which illustrate her activities: sailing on Lake Geneva, an archeological dig in Crete, sports training and peregrinations in the mountains of the USSR, an account of conflict on the Indian-Afghan border in 1937. As well as a text never published before, which tells of an intrepid visit to Winston Churchill in 1936. The book is illustrated with 35 black and white photographs. In French. Foreword by Olivier Bauer. Editions Zoé, Geneva, 2003, 2013. Zoé Poche, Editions Zoé, Genève, 2021
Bribes de sagesses
This collection brings together excerpts from books or interviews in which Ella Maillart delivered fragments of her thoughts on the world. It is completed by texts that she particularly appreciated and that nourished her reflection. These texts come from the Hindu, Buddhist, or Christian traditions. Black and white photographic illustrations. 62 pages. In French.
Ed. Actes sud, Collection Souffle de l'esprit, directed by Christian Dumais-Lvowski, Arles, 2007.
Chandolin d'Anniviers
Photographs and texts by Ella Maillart about the village in the Swiss Alps that became the home of the navigator and explorer. The pictures taken between 1949 and 1961 show a Chandolin of the past. A tribute by Samivel to Ella Maillart concludes this collection. In French. 48 pages. Published by the Association Les amis d'Ella Maillart, Chandolin, 2007.
Envoyée spéciale en Mandchourie - En Asie où guettent
les maîtres de demain
In 1934, Ella Maillart is the special envoy of Le Petit Parisien, the most important daily newspaper of the time, in the North-East of China to report on Manchukuo, the name given to Manchuria under the Japanese occupation. With her Leica, she travels along the new railway lines and observes with insight the racial hatreds, the galloping modernization, and the power struggles between the Japanese, Chinese, Manchus, Russians, and Mongols. This trip, where Peter Fleming joins her, is the prelude to their long journey through Asia, which is recounted in Forbidden Journey. Collection of 11 articles and 26 black and white photographs by Ella Maillart. In French.
Preface by Gilbert Etienne. In French : Editions Zoé, Geneva, 2009. In Polish : Wysłanniczka Specjalna do Mandżurii – w Zderzeniu z Imperium, Ed. Noir sur Blanc, Warszawa, 2012
Ella Maillart — Regards sur Chandolin
Preface by Pierre-François Mettan, afterword by Jérôme Meizoz.
On her return from India after the Second World War, Ella Maillart discovered Chandolin, a small village in the Swiss Alps, where she would settle down and spend from now on six months every year. This publication contains some of the photographs she took there between 1946 and 1978, as well as several articles she wrote about her alpine retreat. 168 p. Editions Zoé, Genève, 2021.
Ma philosophie du voyage
Ella Maillart had an ethnographer’s eye, sometimes sensual, often ironic. The fifteen or so texts in this collection, such as Le sens du voyage, L’école dans les nuages, Le culte du serpent and Route à l’est, bear witness to this. Attentive, wherever she is, to the condition of women, she shows herself at every moment to be incredibly curious and energetic. Drawn by forbidden lands, chance encounters and zigzagging journeys, she was also practicing the art of slow travel, so as to better assimilate the experience - in search of the essentiel, which alone is lasting. In French : Editions Payot & Rivages, Paris, 2022. In Italian : Il Senso del Viaggio - Piccola Filosofia del Vagabondare, EDT Torino, 2023.
Contributions and forewords
Frohe Stunden im Schnee
Le ski dans le Caucase, article de 7 pages par Ella Maillart dans cette publication du Schweizerischer Damen Ski-Club. Hallwag, Bern, 1939
The Lasting Victories
Contributions par 44 auteurs. Article d’Ella Maillart, 4 pages: What northern Tibet meant to me.
Ed. Lutterworth Press, London, 1948
Chats
de Henri Saas, préface d’Ella Maillart. Editions Jean Marguerat, Lausanne, 1950
Traveller’s Quest
Original contributions towards a philosophy of travel by 16 authors. Article de 12 pages par Ella Maillart, My Philosophy of Travel. Ed. William Hodge, London, 1950
Explorers’ and Travellers’ Tales
Edited by Odette Tchernine. Contributions by Sir John Hunt, John Brown, Ella Maillart, Eric Shipton, Brian Fawcett, Sebastian Snow. Article de 33 pages d’Ella Maillart : Tibetan Jaunt.
Jarrolds Publishers, London, 1958
Winter Shoes in Springtime
de Beryl Smeeton, préface d’Ella Maillart. Ed. Rupert Hart-Davis, London, 1961
Seul à travers l’Atlantique et autres récits
d’Alain Gerbault, préface d’Ella Maillart. Bernard Grasset, Paris 1991
De long en large – Ladakh
Portfolio de 40 photographies panoramiques de Jean Mansion, préface d’Ella Maillart.
Editions Findakly, Paris, 1995
The Alluring Target – In Search of the Secrets of Central Asia
by Kenneth Wimmel, préface d’Ella Maillart. Trackless Sands Press, Paolo Alto, 1996
The Spoken Word – Travel Writers
Historic recordings of 12 travel writers and explorers in their own words, including Freya Stark, Peter Fleming, Ella Maillart, Wilfred Thesiger, Eric Newby, Geoffrey Moorhouse, Laurens van der Post. Ella Maillart’s interview dates from 1987. 2 CDs. BBC / British Library, London, 2012
On Ella Maillart (selection)
Collective work
Voyage vers le réel - Mélanges dédiés à Ella Maillart à l’occasion de ses 80 ans
Contributions: Nicolas Bouvier, Yvette Fatio, Miette Seyrig, Denis Bertholet, James Riddell, Laurence Deonna, Pascal Privet, Wladimir Engelhardt, Pierre Jaccard, Yolande Crowe, Catherine Domain, Christophe Le Tanneur, Samivel, Frederick Leboyer, Govind Swaminathan, Deben Bhattacharya, Jean Lombard, Nansen J. Taponier, Lewis Thompson, Richard Lannoy, Arnaud Desjardins, Henri Hartung, Claude-Achille Clarac. Ed. Olizane, Genève, 1983
Collective work
Voyage vers l’Ouest — Hommage à Ella Maillart
In letters and images, the travel impressions of 9 photographers, artists and writers of French, Chinese and Swiss nationality, who travelled to Xinjiang in 2008. The participants' work was also featured in an exhibition shown in Beijing and Kashgar in 2008 and 2009. Project organized by the French and Swiss embassies in China. In French. Editions Lieux dits, Lyon, 2009.
Abolivier, Gwenaëlle
Ella Maillart — L'intrépide femme du globe
Editions Paulsen, Paris, 11/2023
Adler, Tibère - Parzer Epp, Verena - Wirz, Claudia
Pionnières de la Suisse moderne — Des femmes qui ont vécu la liberté
publié par Avenir suisse et Le Temps. Edition Slatkine, Genève, 2014
Alessandrini, Elisabetta (dir.)
Ella Maillart e la via della seta al femminile : immagini di donne d’Asia Centrale
Editions Il tuncano, Torino, 2002
Bertola, Carinne
Ella Maillart navigatrice — Libre comme l'eau
Editions Glénat, Grenoble, 02/2024
Bouvier, Nicolas
L’Echappée belle — Eloge de quelques pérégrins
Editions Métropolis, Genève, 1996
Deonna, Laurence & de Tscharner, Bénédict
Femmes suisses dans le monde — du 17e au 21e siècle
Les portraits d’une trentaine de personnalités féminines suisses d’exception, dont Maria Sybilla Merian, Marie Grosholtz (Madame Tussaud), Emilie Gourd, Lisa della Casa, Marthe Keller, Carla del Ponte, Heidi Tagliavini et Ella Maillart. Ed. Eclectica / Ed. de Penthes, Genève, 2010
Deriaz, Anne
Chère Ella
Editions Actes sud, Arles, 1998
Dommen, Bridget
Ella Maillart — Dans la tourmente du XXe siècle
Editions Cabédita, Bière, 2020
Fleming, Peter
News from Tartary — A Journey from Peking to Kashmir
Jonathan Cape, London, 1936. Edition française: Courrier de Tartarie, Payot, Paris 1992
Fleming, Peter
A Forgotten Journey — From Moscow to Manchuria
Rupert Hart-Davis, London, 1952
Forsdick, Charles
Oasis interdites d’Ella Maillart
Editions Zoé & Le Cippe/Acel, Genève et Bienne, 2008
Galland, Bertil
Princes des Marges — La Suisse romande en trente destins d’artistes
Editions 24 heures / Société Coopérative Migros Vaud, Lausanne, 1991
Gibbon, Monk
Mount Ida
(Part I, p. 30-116). Jonathan Cape, London, 1948
Gorshenina, Svetlana
La Route de Samarcande — L’Asie centrale dans l’objectif des voyageurs d’autrefois
(recueil de photographies). Editions Olizane, Genève, 2000
Gorshenina, Svetlana
Explorateurs en Asie central: Voyageurs et aventuriers de Marco Polo à Ella Maillart
Editions Olizane, Genève, 2003.
Graves, Matthew
Un voyage, deux voies : Les récits croisés de Peter Fleming et Ella Maillart
dans Lignes d’horizon : récits de voyage de la littérature anglaise, études réunies par Jean Viviès, p. 123-136. Publications de l’Université de Provence, Aix-en-Provence, 2002
Guex, Fanny - Jaeger, Gérard A. - Weber, Olivier
Ella Maillart - Revue-Livre Mook, Ed. Sept No.41, Spring 2023, 194 p. In French.
Quarterly publication dedicated to Ella Maillart on the occasion of the 120th anniversary of her birth. The three authors write about different aspects of her career: In Partir pour se déconstruire, Gérard A. Jaeger evokes her youth and sailing adventures; Sur les traces d’Ella Maillart by Olivier Weber recounts her travels in Russian Turkestan; Seul le voyage intérieur est réel by historian Fanny Guex speaks of Ella Maillart's stay with masters of wisdom in South India. Also included is an interview with Catherine Domain, bookseller in Paris, as well as Dans les yeux d’Ella Maillart, a selection of 58 color photographs published for the first time.
Härtel, Susanne & Köster, Magdalena (Hrsg.)
Die Reisen der Frauen — Lebensgeschichten von Frauen aus drei Jahrtausenden
Kurzbiographien von Lady Mary Montagu, Ida Pfeiffer, Isabella Bird, Mary French Sheldon, Lina Bögli, Kate Marsden, Mary Kingsley, Isabelle Eberhardt, Maria Leitner, Ella Maillart.
Beltz & Gelberg, Beltz Verlag, Weinheim und Basel, 1994
Hart-Davis, Duff
Peter Fleming — A Biography
Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1987
Hessel Tiltmann, Marjorie
Women in Modern Adventure: Walking around Central Asia – The Wanderings of Ella Maillart the Young Swiss Girl. George G. Harrap & Co, London, 1935
Hoe, Susanna
Chinese Footprints: Exploring Women’s History in China, Hong Kong and Macau
(chapter Different Wavelengths on Ella Maillart and Peter Fleming)
Roundhouse Publications, Hong Kong, 1996
Imhasly, Bernard, Ed.
Friendship in Diversity — Sixty Years of Indo-Swiss Relations
(chapter An Indo-Swiss Friendship : Ella Maillart and Jawaharlal Nehru)
Universities Press (India), Hyderabad, 2008
Kaeser, Daniel
Utopistes — Poètes — Aventuriers
(p. 115 – 131 : Ella Maillart – Une insolente liberté). Editions à la Carte, CH-3960 Sierre, 2009
May, Olivier
Un fabuleux destin — Ella Maillart
Editions Auzou (Suisse), 2021
(livre pour enfants)
Muscionico, Daniele
Starke Schweizer Frauen
Texte über 24 bemerkenswerte Schweizerinnen, u.a. Lina Bögli, Isabelle Eberhardt, Meret Oppenheim, Madame de Staël, Sophie Täuber-Arp, Mabel Zuppinger-Westermann und Ella Maillart. Limmat Verlag, Zürich, 2011
Oulié, Marthe et de Saussure, Hermine
La Croisière de Perlette — 1700 milles dans la mer Egée
Ed. Librairie Hachette, Paris, 1926
Oulié, Marthe
Quand j’étais matelot
Librairie de la Revue Française – Alexis Redier, Paris, 1930
Oulié, Marthe
Cinq filles en Méditerranée – 1925
Nouvelle édition de Quand j’étais matelot, annotée et commentée par Eric Vibart
Editions Ouest-France, Rennes, 2004
Paulet, Bruno
Mémoires des sables: En Haute-Asie sur la piste oubliée d’Ella Maillart et Peter Fleming. Prix Pierre Loti 2008.
Editions Olizane, Genève, 2007
Pionnières et Créatrices en Suisse romande aux XIXe et XXe siècles
(Textes sur 56 personnalités dont Ella Maillart). Editions Slatkine, Coll. Helvetica, Genève, 2004.
Roche, Amandine
Nomade sur la voie d’Ella Maillart
Editions Arthaud, Paris, 2003, et Editions Payot & Rivages, Paris, 2005
Steinert-Borella, Sara
Women in French Studies
Incl. Re-Discovering the Travel Narratives of Ella Maillart,
WIF, Myrna Bell Rochester, 871 Chimalus Drive, Palo Alto, CA 94306-2603
Steinert-Borella, Sara
The Travel Narratives of Ella Maillart : (En)Gendering the Quest
Peter Lang, New York, 2006
Stevens, Stuart
Night Train to Turkistan: Modern Adventure along China’s Ancient Silk Road
Paladin Books, London, 1990
Thobois, Ingrid et Alibeu, Géraldine
Kini - Le monde à bras le corps. Une biographie d'Ella Maillart (livre pour enfants)
Editions À pas de loups, 2019
Tyler, Christian
Wild West China : The Taming of Xinjiang
John Murray, London, 2003
Veit, Karen
Journey and Gender – Diversity in Travel Writing
dans Susanne Fendler (ed.), Feminist Contributions to the Literary Canon: Setting Standards of Taste. Lewiston Edwin Mellen Press, 1997
Weber, Olivier
Je suis de nulle part – Sur les traces d’Ella Maillart
Ed. Payot & Rivages, Paris, 2003
Wimmel, Kenneth
The Alluring Target – In Search of the Secrets of Central Asia
Foreword by Ella Maillart. Incl. Ella Maillart and Peter Fleming - More an Escapade Than an Expedition. Trackless Sands Press, Paolo Alto, 1996
Academic works (selection)
Chappuis Ye^n-Chi, Isabelle
Ella Maillart: de l’exotisme au voyage intérieur. Master’s thesis, San José State University, 2008.
Chaverot, Adeline
Voir plutôt que croire ? Les voyages d’Ella Maillart en Union soviétique (années 1930)
Mémoire de master, Université de Toulouse - Jean Jaures, 2019.
Guex, Fanny
Voyage, Mission, Traduction. Les mécanismes de rencontre culturelle entre l’Inde et la Suisse (1870-1970). Dissertation, Université de Lausanne, 2016.
Jégou, Mathilde
Le corps à l’ouvrage. Les représentations du corps dans les récits de voyage d’Ella Maillart, d’Annemarie Schwarzenbach, de Nicolas Bouvier et de Lorenzo Pestelli.
Disseration Master, Université de Lille, 2022.
Maley, Wiliiam
Afghanistan as a cultural crossroads: Lessons from the writings of Ella Maillart, Annemarie Schwarzenbach and Nancy Hatch Dupree. Article paru dans Asian Affairs, Journal of the Royal Society for Asian Affairs, London, Vol. 44, 2013.
McColley, Margaret Elisabeth
The Epistolary Self : Home and Identity in Francophone Women’s Travel Letters (1850 - 1950), Belford, Ann Arbor and University of Michigan, 2006
Mendez, Benoît
Ella Maillart - Voyages et identité féminine moderniste.
Travail de maturité, Lycée Blaise-Cendrars, La Chaux-de-Fonds, 2017
Schneider, Pia
Travel(ing) Dialogue - Ella Maillart, Annemarie Schwarzenbach et Nicolas Bouvier rencontrent l’Orient. Dans Dialogues interculturels à l’époque coloniale et postcoloniale. Dissertation, Universität Potsdam, Editions Kime, 2019.
Sójka, Pia
Writing Travel, Writing Life - Ars Vivendi and the Travelling Narrations of Ella Maillart, Annemarie Schwarzenbach and Nicolas Bouvier. Dissertation, Universtät Potsdam, 2021.
Voituret, Denis
Ella Maillart, un « nouveau genre » de voyageuse (1923-1935). Université de la Réunion, article paru dans Téoros - Revue de recherche en tourisme, vol. 29, 2010.
Zanetta, M.
A new travel culture ? The origins of female solo travel in Switzerland in life and works of Isabelle Eberhardt, Ella Maillart and Annemarie Schwarzenbach. Thesis, master in international tourism, Universita della Svizzera italiana, 1920.
The Ella Maillart Fonds at Bibliothèque de Genève includes a large collection of articles about her, starting in the 1920s.