The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (Forgotten Books)

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen is one of the most famous book of tall tales. It is based on stories told by Karl Friedrich von Münchhausen, a retired army captain, who was noted for his exaggerated and fantastic accounts of his war adventures and hunting experiences. The German scientist and librarian Rudolf Erich Raspe produced the first, small book based on these and some other stories. His work was followed by enlarged collections, composed by other authors, of whom Gottfried Bürger (1747-1794) is the most notable. (Quote from kirjasto.sci.fi)

About the Author

Rudolf Erich Raspe (1736 - 1794) was a German librarian, writer and scientist, and he was called by his biographer John Carswell a "rogue". He is best known for his collection of tall tales: The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen, originally a satirical work with political aims.

Raspe was born in Hanover, studied law and worked as a librarian for the university of Gottingen. Since 1767 he was responsible for some collections of the landgrave of Hesse-Cassel Frederic II before having to flee to England in 1775 after pilfering some gems that were supposedly in his care. He was employed by Matthew Boulton in the mines of Cornwall, and he was also publishing in geology and in the history of art. He also worked for the famous publisher John Nichols in several projects. In 1791 he moved to Scotland, and after an involvement in a mining swindle there, he left. He finally moved to Ireland where he managed a copper mine on the Herbert Estate. He died in Killarney, County Kerry, Ireland, of typhoid, in November of 1794.

The Baron Munchausen tales were made famous when they were 'borrowed', translated into German, and embellished somewhat by G. A. Burger in 1786 - and have been a favourite read

A certain eighteenth-century German noble ventured abroad for military service and returned with a series of amusingly outrageous stories. Baron Munchausen's astounding feats included riding cannonballs, traveling to the Moon, and pulling himself out of a bog by his own hair. Listeners delighted in hearing about these unlikely adventures, and in 1785, the stories were collected and published as Baron Munchausen's Narrative of his Marvellous Travels and Campaigns in Russia. By the nineteenth century, the tales had undergone expansions and transformations by several notable authors and had been translated into many languages.
A figure as colorful as the Baron naturally appeals to the artistic imagination, and he has been depicted in numerous works of art. His definitive visual image, however, belongs to Gustave Doré. Famed for his engravings of scenes from the Bible, the Divine Comedy, Don Quixote, and other literary classics, Doré created theatrical illustrations of the Baron's escapades that perfectly recreate the stories' picaresque humor.
Dover (2005) unabridged republication of the revised edition published by Cassell, Petter, and Galpin, London and New York, 1865.