Isabelle de Montolieu


Isabelle de Montolieu was a Swiss novelist and translator. She wrote in and translated to the French language. Montolieu penned a few original novels and over 100 volumes of translations. She wrote the first French translation of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility and Persuasion.
One of her translations to French - Johann David Wyss's German-language The Swiss Family Robinson - was adapted and expanded by her with original episodes more than once. Montolieu's French version is the literal source of still frequently reprinted English translations - for example William H. G. Kingston's 1879 version, one of the most popular in English over the years, is actually a translation of Montolieu's French adaptation.
Her first novel, Caroline de Lichtfield, ou Mémoires d'une Famille Prussienne, was an influential instant best-seller in the 1780s and stayed in print until the mid-19th century.