The Startling Adventures of Baron Munchausen

There is a photograph of me with an illustrated copy of Munchausen taken when I was a sweet 5 year old. I was taken with the great fibber then and now that I'm 63 I'm still taken him. Many of the tales I can remember quite well. The more important aspect of this short book is the background material on the author and associated detail. I chased the Munchausen book for some time as literature for my grand daughters to compliment, Stauwel Peter, and Max und Moritz and I wanted them in English. I always balked when the author was given as Raspe until my research showed an seed that Munchausen was not his own author. The tales are short and the reader can interpolate and ad lib which is not only good for bedtime stories but an incentive to enhance the listeners' imagination. All in all the book brought back fond childhood memories, consolidated knowledge of publishing in Europe for the 18th century and there-abouts and well worth the effort to obtain. An excellent book who's stories will enhance the imagination and not confuse tall tales with any semblance of truth. Great for imaginative childrens' bedtime stories, adding a touch of "classical language" to enhance critical and imaginative language experience.

The edition on this book is known as the Pantheon edition, very collectible from 1946. It is the one filled with art by Gustave Dore on nearly every page. It was made in a black cloth binding, with an image on the front cover in gold gilt. The paper inside looks like old parchment in a nice creamy color. It was not published with a dustjacket. If you are not familiar with the tale of the Baron, I suggest you give it a try. It is the wild journeys of a most eccentric man and his companions. The story has people with amazing talents, and he meets some old mythical characters and gods along the way. This is a great addition to any library of classic books.

Whenever you have the desire to just let your imagination go with some total escapist reading, you can't really go wrong with any of the Munchausen stories. The movie of the same title by Terry Gilliam is also wonderful. These are good stories to read to a fairly young (like between 5 and 10) year old child, but I find them entertaining as well. I'm not sure how the other reviewer could find them 'dull', but I suppose it's a matter of taste, and perhaps imagination. This book was written in an eloquent rather baroque way, and is a bit flowery in it's language. The language used relects the time, teller and story however, and is appropriate. Another good fantastical escapist book is 'The Worm Ouroboros' by E.R. Eddison.