1-158-844 - Ann Ronan Picture Library/Heritage-Images

Scene from The Adventures of Baron Munchausen by Rudolph Erich Raspe, c1850. Munchausen, recovering his silver casket which had bounced up to the moon. He grew a Turkey bean and climbed up to the moon. From The Adventures of Baron Munchausen by Rudolph Erich Raspe. (Paris, c1850). First published London, 1785. Raspe (1737-1794), German scholar and adventurer, published these tall stories when in need to money while exiled in England. They were based on the tales that Karl Friedrich Hieronymous von Munchausen (1720-1797), German braggart and pathological liar, told about his time serving the Russian army fighting against the Turks.