Rudolf Erich Raspe is best known for his collection of tall tales: The Surprising Adventures Of Baron Munchhausen. He was born in Hannover, studied science and philology and worked as a librarian for several universities before having to flee to England in 1775 after pilfering some gems that were supposedly in his care. In 1791 he had to move again (to Ireland) after his involvement in a mining swindle in Scotland. He died in County Kerry, Ireland in 1794.
The Baron Munchhausen tales were made famous when they were 'borrowed', translated into German and embellished somewhat by G.A. Bürger[?] in 1786 - and have been a favourite read of subsquently generations (and made the basis Terry Gilliam's film: The Adventures of Baron Munchhausen)
wikipedia.org dumped 2003-03-17 with terodump