I Am Going to Switzerland — Daniel, Birkhäuser 1962

📖 I Am Going to Switzerland by Anita Daniel (1962, Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel & Stuttgart) — the second, revised edition of a witty mid-century guide to Switzerland, illustrated throughout with black-and-white drawings by J. Marianne Moll. This copy is complete with its unclipped dust jacket, blue map endpapers, and a clean, tight text block.

QUICK FACTS

• Author: Anita Daniel (1892–1978), Romanian-born American journalist and travel writer
• Illustrator: J. Marianne Moll
• Publisher: Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel & Stuttgart; printed in Switzerland by Birkhäuser A.G.
• Year: 1962 — second edition, revised; first published by Coward-McCann, New York, 1952
• Format: Hardcover in dust jacket (unclipped) with blue pictorial map endpapers
• Pages: ca. 236 | ISBN: None (pre-ISBN era)
• Condition: Book Very Good- to Very Good; jacket Good — full report below

THE BOOK

Among Daniel’s many travelogues, I Am Going to Switzerland drew the most attention when it appeared in 1952 — frequently featured and reviewed in American travel columns for the next decade. It works on two levels: an introduction to Swiss culture and lifestyle, and a practical traveler’s guide with detailed information on accommodations, shopping, and local festivals across Switzerland’s districts. The publisher’s own blurb calls it “not just another Baedeker” — the usual guide-book material on hotels, restaurants, and resorts is supplemented with human-interest passages on old castles, modern architecture, seasonal field flowers, and native customs, written in what the flap copy describes as Daniel’s “colorful writing which gives the reader the feel and the spirit of the country.”

THIS EDITION

This is the second edition, revised in 1962 and published in Basel and Stuttgart by Birkhäuser Verlag — Daniel’s regular Swiss publisher, who also issued her German-language titles including Ich reise nach Paris and Ein bisschen Glück. The title page reads “Second Edition, Birkhäuser Verlag Basel und Stuttgart,” and the copyright page credits the original Coward-McCann edition. The 1962 Birkhäuser printing is considerably less common than the 1952 New York first edition.

COVER & ILLUSTRATIONS

The dust jacket carries a light-blue field with the title in yellow lettering above a black-and-white line drawing of snow-capped peaks rising over a lake, with a cabin and pines along the shore. The endpapers are printed with a blue pictorial map of France, Switzerland, and Austria, dotted with stylized airplane silhouettes. Inside, the text is illustrated with Moll’s black-and-white line drawings. The jacket flaps carry the full publisher’s blurb and a note on the author, who contributed to the New York Times Magazine, This Week, American Mercury, and Vogue, among other publications.

CONTENTS

• Chapter I — The Magic of Switzerland (p. 7)
• Chapter II — Get to Know the Swiss (p. 71)
• Chapter III — Travel in Suisse and à la suisse (p. 88)
• Chapter IV — The Great Tradition (p. 107)
• Chapter V — What to See, What to Do — What to Eat (p. 179)
• Epilogue (p. 233)

THE AUTHOR

Anita Daniel (1892–1978) was born in Iași, Romania, educated in Paris and Geneva, and built a career explaining Europe to Americans and America to Europeans. A multilingual journalist with syndicated columns translated into several languages, she wrote travel guides, biographies (including The Story of Albert Schweitzer), and cultural essays; her work was acknowledged by the U.S. Department of State. Her 1928 essay “Sex Appeal,” published in the German magazine Uhu, is still reprinted in academic sourcebooks.

FREQUENTLY ASKED

What edition is this? Second, revised edition, 1962, Birkhäuser Verlag — first published by Coward-McCann, New York, in 1952.

Is the dust jacket included? Yes — present with unclipped flaps; it shows honest shelf wear, with a closed tear at the upper rear spine joint and chipping at the spine ends. Full report below.

What condition is it in? Book grades Very Good- to Very Good with a Good jacket — full report below.

Is it signed? No signature or inscription appears in the photographed pages of this copy.

FOR COLLECTORS

A complete, jacketed example of post-war European travel literature — Moll’s line drawings, pictorial map endpapers, and Daniel’s sharp, opinionated prose make it a natural for alpine, armchair-travel, or mid-century design collections. The pre-ISBN 1962 printing places it firmly in the golden age of the illustrated travel guide.

Condition Report

• Overall Grade: Book: Very Good- (VG-)/Very Good (VG) // Jacket: Good (G)
• Cover & Spine: Sky-blue cloth boards are clean with bright gilt floral stamping on the front board and gilt spine titling; spine is lightly tanned; boards crisp.
• Dust Jacket: Present; unclipped flaps. Displays a significant closed/partial tear along the upper rear spine joint, chipping with slight loss at the head and tail of the spine, and rubbing along the extremities. Moisture visible on the upper spine, both on exterior and interior of jacket.
• Text Block & Pages: Pages are clean, supple, and uniformly off-white/cream with no significant age-toning, markings, or foxing. No writing, no loose, torn or folded pages.
• Binding: Square, tight, and firm; hinges are intact and strong.

See accompanying images for full condition details. Will ship promptly, carefully packaged.

HFB-SEO-v1: 2026-10-13

Shelf: 6-1

1 in stock