May 11, 2006
Happy Birthday, Baron Münchausen!
Today is the birthday in 1720 of Hieronymus Karl Friedrich, Baron Münchausen. Here is a nifty site giving the background on how Baron Munchausen's stories of his exploits in war and on his travels gradually assumed the standing of Tall Tale, first at the hands of Rudolph Erich Raspe.
Here is an online collection of Münchausen stories, said to be a scan of an undated edition published in the 1920's. As it happens, I have a very old and undated copy of Munchausen stories at home, complete with a frontispiece of the above drawing of the Baron by Gustav Dore, on which the portrayal of the Baron by John Neville in Terry Gilliam's movie adaptation is obviously based:
A really fun movie.
Posted by: rbj at May 11, 2006 01:37 PMYou can research your copy at bookfinder.com, to see what it's worth.
Posted by: The Sanity Inspector at May 12, 2006 10:49 AM
Image courtesy of the lovely and talented 