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MUNCHAUSEN, BARON

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Originally appearing in Volume V19, Page 2 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MUNCHAUSEN, See also:BARON . This name is famous in See also:literary See also:history on See also:account of the amusingly mendacious stories known as the Adventures of Baron Munchausen. In 1785 a little See also:shilling See also:book of 49 pages was published in See also:London (as we know from the See also:Critical See also:Review for See also:December 1785), called Baron Munchausen's Narrative of his Marvellous Travels and See also:Campaigns in See also:Russia. No copy is known to exist, but a second edition (apparently identical) was printed at See also:Oxford See also:early in 1786. The publisher of both these See also:editions was a certain See also:Smith, and he then sold it to another bookseller named Kearsley, who brought out in 1786 an enlarged edition (the additions to which were stated in the 7th edition not to be by the See also:original author), with illustrations under the See also:title of Gulliver Reviv'd: the Singular Travels, Campaigns, Voyages, and Sporting Adventures of Baron Munnikhouson, commonly pronounced Munchausen; as he relates them over a See also:bottle when surrounded by his See also:friends. Four editions rapidly succeeded, and a See also:free See also:German See also:translation by the poet Gottfried See also:August See also:Burger, from the fifth edition, was printed at See also:Gottingen in 1786. The seventh See also:English edition (1793), which is the usual See also:text, has the moral sub-title, Or the See also:Vice of Lying properly exposed, and had further new additions. In 1792 a Sequel appeared, dedicated to See also:James See also:Bruce, the See also:African traveller, whose Travels to Discover the See also:Nile (1790) had led to incredulity and ridicule. As See also:time went on Munchausen increased in popularity and was translated into many See also:languages. Continuations were published, and new illustrations provided (e.g. by T. See also:Rowlandson, 1809; A. Crowquill, 1859; A.

See also:

Cruikshank, 1869; the See also:French artist See also:Richard, 1878; Gustave See also:Dore, 1862; W. See also:Strang and J. B. See also:Clark, 1895). The theme of Baron Munchausen, the " drawer of the See also:long-See also:bow " See also:par excellence, has become See also:part of the See also:common stock of the See also:world's See also:story-telling. The original author was at first unknown, and until 1824 he was generally identified with Burger, who made the German translation of 1786. But Burger's biographer, Karl von See also:Rein-hard, in the See also:Berlin Gesellschafter of See also:November 1824, set the See also:matter at See also:rest by stating that the real author was See also:Rudolf Erich See also:Raspe (q.v.). Raspe had apparently become acquainted at Gottingen with Hieronymus Karl See also:Friedrich, Freiherr von Munchhausen, of Bodenwerder in See also:Hanover. This Freiherr von Munchhausen (1720-1797) had been in the See also:Russian service and 11 served against the See also:Turks, and on retiring in 176o he lived on his estates at Bodenwerder and used to amuse himself and his friends, and See also:puzzle the quidnuncs and the dull-witted, by See also:relating extraordinary instances of his prowess as soldier and sportsman. His stories became a byword among his circle, and Raspe, when hard up for a living in London, utilized the See also:suggestion for his little brochure. But his narrative owed much also to such See also:sources, known to Raspe, as Heinrich See also:Bebel's Facetiae bebelianae (1508), J. P.

See also:

Lange's Deliciae academicae (1665), a See also:section of which is called Mendacia ridicula, See also:Castiglione's Cortegiano (1528), the Travels of the Finkenritter, attributed to Lorenz von Lauterbach in the 16th See also:century, and other See also:works of this sort. Raspe can only be held responsible for the See also:nucleus of the book; the additions were made by book-sellers' hacks, from such sources as See also:Lucian's See also:Vera historia, or the Voyages inraginaires (1787), while suggestions were taken from Baron de Tott's See also:Memoirs (Eng. trans. 1785), the contemporary aeronautical feats of Montgolfier and See also:Blanchard, and any topical " sensations " of the mement, such as Bruce's explorations in See also:Africa. Munchausen is thus a medley, as we have it, a classical instance of the fantastical mendacious literary genre. See the introduction by T. Seccombe to See also:Lawrence and Bullen's edition of 1895. Adolf Ellisen, whose See also:father visited Freiherr von Munchhausen in 1795 and found him very uncommunicative, brought out a German edition in 1849, with a valuable See also:essay on pseudology in See also:general. There is useful material in Carl See also:Muller-Fraureuth's See also:Die deutschen Liigendichtungen auf Miinchhausen (1881) and in See also:Griesbach's edition of Burger's translation (1890). MUNCH-BELLINGHAUSEN, ELIGIUS See also:FRANZ See also:JOSEPH, FREIHERR VON (1806-1871), See also:Austrian poet and dramatist (who wrote under the See also:pseudonym " Friedrich See also:Halm "), was See also:born at See also:Cracow on the 2nd of See also:April 18o6, the son of a See also:district See also:judge. Educated at first at a private school in See also:Vienna, he afterwards attended lectures at the university, and in 1826, at the early See also:age of twenty, married and entered the See also:government service. In 184o he became Regierungsrat, in 1845 Hofrat and custodian of the royal library, in 1861 See also:life member of the Austrian Herrenhaus (upper chamber), and from 186g to 1871 was See also:intendant of the two See also:court theatres in Vienna. He died at Hutteldorf near Vienna on the 22nd of May 1871.

Munch-Bellinghausen's dramas, among them notably Griseldis (1835; publ. 1837; filth ed.. 1896), Der See also:

Adept (1836; publ. 1838), See also:Camoens (1838), Der Sohn der Wildnis (1842; loth ed., 1896), and Der See also:Fechter von See also:Ravenna (1854; publ. 1857; 6th ed., 1894), are distinguished by elegance of See also:language, melodious versification and See also:clever construction, and were for a time exceedingly popular. His poems, Gedichte, were published in See also:Stuttgart, 185o (new ed., Vienna. 1877). His works, Si rmtliche Werke, were published in eight volumes (1856-1864), to which four See also:posthumous volumes were added in 1872. Ausgewahlte Werke, ed. by A. Schlossar, 4 vols. (1904). See F.

Pachler, Jugend and Lehrjahre See also:

des Dichters F. Halm (1877); J. Simiani, Gedenkblatter an F. Halm (1873). Halm's See also:correspondence with Enk von der See also:Burg has been published by R. Schachinger (1890).

End of Article: MUNCHAUSEN, BARON

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