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Baron Munchausen’s absurd adventures have entertained adults and
children alike for more than two centuries. First published in
England in 1785, his traveller’s tales soon became as well known
as those of his near contemporaries, Gulliver and Robinson Crusoe
– but are a great deal funnier! The real Baron Münchhausen was a
German aristocrat whose colourful military career and sporting
experiences provided ample material for the after-dinner stories
for which he became notorious. One of the guests at the Baron’s
table was Rudolf Erich Raspe, librarian, scientist and writer, who
later, hard-up in London, turned the Baron’s astonishing
life-story to good account. Raspe’s fictional Baron adopts the
same tone of nonchalant exaggeration apparently characteristic of
the original as he tells how he turned a wolf inside out in Russia,
rode on a Turkish cannon ball, danced a hornpipe in the stomach of
large fish which had swallowed him alive, mended his horse which
had been severed in two by a portcullis, lent his friend General
Elliot a hand at the siege of Gibraltar by nipping into the enemy
camp and destroying all their cannon, and even visited the moon –
twice. The more preposterous the subject, the more earnest and
deadpan the narrator’s manner. Though many artists have been
inspired by the Baron’s fantastic escapades, Gustave Doré’s
illustrations (1862) are by far the best
The stories about Munchhausen were first collected and published by
an anonymous author in 1781. An English version was published in
London in 1785, by Rudolf Erich Raspe, as Baron Munchhausen's
Narrative of his Marvellous Travels and Campaigns in Russia, also
called The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchhausen. Rudolf Erich
Raspe (March 1736 - November 1794) was a German librarian, writer
and scientist. He is best known for his collection of tall tales,
The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen, originally a
satirical work with political aims.
It is a curious fact that of that class of literature to which
Munchausen belongs, that namely of Voyages Imaginaires, the three
great types should have all been created in England. Utopia,
Robinson Crusoe, and Gulliver, illustrating respectively the
philosophical, the edifying, and the satirical type of fictitious
travel, were all written in England, and at the end of the
eighteenth century a fourth type, the fantastically mendacious, was
evolved in this country. Of this type Munchausen was the modern
original, and remains the classical example. The adaptability of
such a species of composition to local and topical uses might well
be considered prejudicial to its chances of obtaining a permanent
place in literature. Yet Munchausen has undoubtedly achieved such a
place. The Baron's notoriety is universal, his character
proverbial, and his name as familiar as that of Mr. Lemuel
Gulliver, or Robinson Crusoe, mariner, of York. Condemned by the
learned, like some other masterpieces, as worthless, Munchausen's
travels have obtained such a world-wide fame, that the story of
their origin possesses a general and historic interest apart from
whatever of obscurity or of curiosity it may have to recommend it.
The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration and rapidly
growing technology and expanding record-keeping made possible by
advances in the printing press. In its determination to preserve
the century of revolution, Gale initiated a revolution of its own:
digitization of epic proportions to preserve these invaluable works
in the largest archive of its kind. Now for the first time these
high-quality digital copies of original 18th century manuscripts
are available in print, making them highly accessible to libraries,
undergraduate students, and independent scholars.The
eighteenth-century fascination with Greek and Roman antiquity
followed the systematic excavation of the ruins at Pompeii and
Herculaneum in southern Italy; and after 1750 a neoclassical style
dominated all artistic fields. The titles here trace developments
in mostly English-language works on painting, sculpture,
architecture, music, theater, and other disciplines. Instructional
works on musical instruments, catalogs of art objects, comic
operas, and more are also included. ++++The below data was compiled
from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of
this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping
to insure edition identification: ++++British LibraryT140375London:
printed for the author, by H. Goldney; and sold by T. Cadell, 1781.
vii, 1],148p., plate; 4
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger
Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain
imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed
pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we
have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting,
preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger
Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and
hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger
Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain
imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed
pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we
have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting,
preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger
Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and
hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger
Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain
imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed
pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we
have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting,
preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger
Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and
hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!
The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration and rapidly
growing technology and expanding record-keeping made possible by
advances in the printing press. In its determination to preserve
the century of revolution, Gale initiated a revolution of its own:
digitization of epic proportions to preserve these invaluable works
in the largest archive of its kind. Now for the first time these
high-quality digital copies of original 18th century manuscripts
are available in print, making them highly accessible to libraries,
undergraduate students, and independent scholars.The
eighteenth-century fascination with Greek and Roman antiquity
followed the systematic excavation of the ruins at Pompeii and
Herculaneum in southern Italy; and after 1750 a neoclassical style
dominated all artistic fields. The titles here trace developments
in mostly English-language works on painting, sculpture,
architecture, music, theater, and other disciplines. Instructional
works on musical instruments, catalogs of art objects, comic
operas, and more are also included. ++++The below data was compiled
from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of
this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping
to insure edition identification: ++++<sourceLibrary>Library
of Congress<ESTCID>N065697<Notes>Vols. 1 and 2 with
parallel English and French title pages. With 58 numbered
plates.<imprintFull>London: printed for for and sold by James
Tassie; and J. Murray, C. Buckton, 1791. <collation>2v.; 4
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger
Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain
imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed
pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we
have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting,
preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger
Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and
hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!
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