The 1867 edition of The Adventures of Baron Munchausen by Rudolf Erich Raspe featured illustrations by the great French artist and engraver Gustave Doré (6 January 1832 – 23 January 1883). Dore illustrated books by Edgar Allan Poe, Milton, Lord Byron Dante, Balzac and Coleridge. His work for Raspe’s tale of the incredible French baron are as uplifting as the Baron’s ballon – the one he used to lift buildings and put them in new places.
“I beheld I beheld him hanging by his bridle to the weathercock of the Steeple”
“They were strung like pearls”
“I guided myself towards my destination”
CHAPTER VI
The Baron is made a prisoner of war, and sold for a slave—Keeps the Sultan’s bees, which are attacked by two bears—Loses one of his bees; a silver hatchet, which he throws at the bears, rebounds and flies up to the moon; brings it back by an ingenious invention; falls to the earth on his return, and helps himself out of a pit—Extricates himself from a carriage which meets his in a narrow road, in a manner never before attempted nor practised since—The wonderful effects of the frost upon his servant’s French horn.– The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
“I beheld a noble stag with a fine full-grown cherry-tree between his antlers”
“The bear blew up with a terrible explosion”
“The fellow was perfectly right about the fur cloak’s madness”
CHAPTER X
Pays a visit during the siege of Gibraltar to his old friend General Elliot—Sinks a Spanish man-of-war—Wakes an old woman on the African coast—Destroys all the enemy’s cannon; frightens the Count d’Artois, and sends him to Paris—Saves the lives of two English spies with the identical sling that killed Goliath; and raises the siege.– The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
“They brought up to the bank the servant”
“And at last made him mount the tea-table “
“He drank uncommonly, with an eagerness not to be satisfied”
“I lifted myself up by my pig-tail”
“I drove a big peg into the hole placed at the pole’s end”
“The sun himself got chilblains”
“Placing one under either arm”
“A man and his wife were busy among its branches, gathering cucumbers”
“His head had got as far as the other beast’s throat”
“The box was filled by a huge coachman”
“My situation was rather damp, for the water penetrated my not very stout clothing”
“Seeing a naked man emerge from his body”
“A personage of a corpulence worthy of Falstaff”
“I had the honour of seeing the seraglio”
“These ragamuffins felt no scruple in plundering me”
“Some, standing in a circle, sang choruses of inexpressible beauty”
“I met, from time to time, with huge fishes “
“I fell upon a large haystack”
“I had scarcely finished my preparations when the whole herd came round me”
“I saw them all lying dead in a circle round me”
“It looked round and shining, like a glittering island”
CHAPTER XX
The Baron slips through the world: after paying a visit to Mount Etna he finds himself in the South Sea; visits Vulcan in his passage; gets on board a Dutchman; arrives at an island of cheese, surrounded by a sea of milk; describes some very extraordinary objects—Lose their compass; their ship slips between the teeth of a fish unknown in this part of the world; their difficulty in escaping from thence; arrive in the Caspian Sea—Starves a bear to death—A few waistcoat anecdotes—In this chapter, which is the longest, the Baron moralises upon the virtue of veracity.– The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
“He held me suspended over a sort of well”
“The old one swooped down upon us”
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