Random House Publishing Group
Search
Expand Mobile Menu
The Travels and Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen

The Travels and Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen

About the Book

The restored, unbowdlerized text of Raspe’s slapstick travel epic featuring the classic illustrations from Strang & Clark (1895)
 
No one has journeyed to as many foreign lands as Baron von Munchausen. Nor, when it comes time to fire a cannon, will you find anyone more accurate. The comfort of courtly life is as natural to him as the harshest polar desert. On the subject of politics and science he has no equal. And all discussion of the moon must start and stop with the only man who has ever been there. His feats of prowess are famed the world over. Who else could leap a hedgerow with a carriage and horse on their back? No one. And then of course there are the bears. . . My god the poor bears!

Written at a time when science was replacing religion, and explorers were mapping the globe, and in our own time made into an acclaimed movie by Terry Gilliam, The Travels and Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen unleashed the quintessential madman upon the Age of Enlightenment—and it remains the tallest of tall tales to this day.
Read more
Close

Neversink Series

La Femme de Gilles
33 Days
The Dead Mountaineer's Inn
Tirra Lirra by the River
Specimen Days and Collect
Insel
Letters of James Agee to Father Flye
Definitely Maybe
Zuleika Dobson
Gilgi
View more

About the Author

Rudolf Erich Raspe
Rudolph Erich Raspe (1736–1794) was a librarian, scientist, and sometime gemstone thief. After a botched confidence scheme, Raspe fled Germany for England, where he wrote and anonymously published The Travels and Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Written in English, the work remained obscure until translated into German by Gottfried August Bürger, to whom it was attributed. After Raspe’s death, the true author was revealed. More by Rudolf Erich Raspe
Decorative Carat

About the Author

William Strang
William Strang RA was a Scottish painter and printmaker, notable for illustrating the works of Bunyan, Coleridge and Kipling. More by William Strang
Decorative Carat

About the Author

J. B. Clark
Joseph Benwell Clark was an English painter, etcher, engraver in mezzotint and drypoint, and book illustrator. Victorian Painters describes Clark as a London painter of rustic subjects. More by J. B. Clark
Decorative Carat

About the Author

David Rees
David Rees first came to fame as the author of Get Your War On, a Bush-era comic strip composed from clip-art that he emailed to friends. It was eventually serialized by Rolling Stone magazine, collected into three successful books, and turned into an off-Broadway play. He is also the author of the workplace satire My New Filing Technique is Unstoppable. He lives in Beacon, New York. More by David Rees
Decorative Carat

About the Author

Thomas Seccombe
Thomas Seccombe was a miscellaneous English writer and, from 1891 to 1901, assistant editor of the Dictionary of National Biography, in which he wrote over 700 entries. More by Thomas Seccombe
Decorative Carat

By clicking submit, I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Penguin Random House's Privacy Policy and Terms of Use and understand that Penguin Random House collects certain categories of personal information for the purposes listed in that policy, discloses, sells, or shares certain personal information and retains personal information in accordance with the policy. You can opt-out of the sale or sharing of personal information anytime.

Random House Publishing Group