Pfeiffer, Ida geborene Reyer#
b. Vienna, Oct. 14, 1797, d. Vienna, Oct. 27, 1858, first woman of the Biedermeier era to travel and explore the world, writer of travel books. At the age of 45 started an independent life as a traveller and explorer: 1842 in the Orient, 1846-1848 in Brazil, in the Society Islands and Tahiti, in Hong Kong and Sri Lanka; 1851 undertook her 2nd world tour (South Africa - Java - San Francisco - Vienna); her 3rd world tour led her to Madagascar in 1856, where she was kept prisoner for a long time and became infected with a fatal disease. P. travelled alone and brought back extensive ethnological and zoological collections for Vienna and London.
Works#
Reise einer Wienerin in das Hl. Land, 2 vols., 1833; Eine Frauenfahrt um die Welt, 3 vols., 1850; Meine 2. Weltreise, 4 vols., 1856; Reise nach Madagaskar, 2 vols., 1861 (ed. by her son Oskar P.).Literature#
E. Donner, Und nirgends eine Karawane. Die Weltreisen der I. P. (1797-1858), 1997; G. Habinger, Eine Wr. Biedermeierdame erobert die Welt. Die Lebensgeschichte der I. P. (1797-1858), 1997; OeBL.