BURNABY (Mrs Fred). The high Alps in winter: or, Mountaineering in search of health. London, Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, 1883. In-8, publisher's decorated cloth binding. Uncommon first edition, illustrated with a frontispiece portrait of the author, four hors-texte plates and two maps, one of which is fold-out. Accounts of winter ascents in Chamonix and Zermatt, under the direction of guide Edouard Cupelin: Col du Tacul, Col des Grands Montets, Aiguille du Midi, Mont-Blanc attempt, Col du Chardonnet, Col d'Argentière, Col St. Théodule, Mont Rose attempt... This is the author's first and most important book on the Alps. Old handwritten bookplate faded on the false title (two small 2 mm holes at the top of the same page). Mrs Elizabeth Alice France Le Blond (Greystones 1860 - Llandrindod Wells 1934) took up mountaineering for health reasons! She did classic climbs and became a specialist in the Bernina and winter ascents. She also climbed in Norway. Her maiden name was Hawkins-Whitshead and, having married three times, she was known successively as Mrs Burnaby (1879 - 1885), Mrs Main (1886 - 1892) and Mrs Le Blond (1900 - 1934). She founded the Ladies Alpine Club, of which she was the first president, in 1907. Perret, 2585 - Regards sur les Alpes 95-A - ACL p. 187 - CAS p. 259 - CAI p. 21