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Mr. Munchausen
Baron Munchausen is a series of adventures narrated by the Baron himself, recounting near-impossible exploits and adventures across the globe. From charging elephants to ravenous acannibals, from sharks that walk on land to giant giraffes -- the good Baron has seen it all and done it better than anyone else!
156 pages, Paperback
First published April 4, 1901
About the author
John Kendrick Bangs
495 books41 followersJohn Kendrick Bangs was an American author and satirist, and the creator of modern Bangsian fantasy, the school of fantasy writing that sets the plot wholly or partially in the afterlife.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 28, 2015
Baron Munchausen, the fictional German nobleman, is an iconic character who spins the tallest of the tall tales – if a giraffe is the tallest living animal, then Baron’s tales of ‘truth’ are the tallest in tall-tales – with such a natural flair. For this character, who was conceived by Rudolph Erich Raspe, nothing is impossible and traveling to the mightiest depths of great oceans or to the moon, or riding a cannon ball, or even altering the course of history through his timely interventions in key historic moments are all as natural for the Baron, as is breathing for us mere mortals.
The Baron riding a half-horse, an illustration based on a story from the original Raspe series, by George Cruikshank
The original adventures of the Baron, written by Raspe in 1785 with it’s supplement stories, add-ons and sequel by various authors and publishers from late 1700s are compiled in the volume ‘ The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen ’. The Baron and his tales are still popular in Europe and several monuments built based on the themes from these tall tales stand as cultural attractions.
John Kendrick Bangs – A long forgotten bestseller author
This is my fifth book by the Victorian humorist ‘John Kendrick Bangs’ – the man who created the ‘Bangsian fantasy’ genre & who was the Associate Editor of Life Magazine, and later Editor to the Humor department of the Harper’s Weekly – an author who despite being one of the most prolific contributors to the satire & fantasy segment and who enjoyed considerable popularity during the late 1800s and early 1900s, is a largely unknown entity in the modern world. Books in his ‘Hades’ series, topped the bestseller charts in late 1890s.
His contributions through parodies and humor pieces were later adapted by or became inspirations for numerous authors. We can trace the genre of fantasy or horror fiction, in which spirits convey their messages through typewriters to Bang’s tale of ‘The Poetic June-Bug’ from ‘Baron Munchausen: An Account of His Recent Adventures’ and to his ‘The Enchanted Typewriter’, the third book from the ‘Associated Shades’/ ‘Hades’ series. His work ‘Raffles Holmes & Company’ can be seen as one of the earliest works, which inspired a whole series of ‘Sherlock Holmes’ and ‘Raffles’ pastiches.
‘Mr. Munchausen – An account of some of his recent Adventures’
In 1901, John Kendrick Bangs rebooted the Baron tales with a volume titled, ‘Baron Munchausen: An Account of His Recent Adventures‘ or ‘Mr. Munchausen’, written in his own Bangsian fantasy format retaining or even improving the element of humor and narration that was followed in the original Baron stories. Bangs cleverly connected the new adventures of Baron to his ‘Hades’ series by presenting the Baron as a dead member residing at Hades and presenting the stories as originally published in the Sunday edition of ‘Gehenna Gazette’, a newspaper from Hades.
In the initial chapter of the book, following the true Munchausen form Bangs narrates the way in which he came across these tales published in Hades, by creating a tall-tale of his own in which the author gets a phone call from the Baron who himself narrate these stories over phone along with a permission to Bangs for publishing these ‘true’ stories of adventure.
Bangs describes his motivation behind the publication of these adventures in a parodied foreword to the book, which sets the tone for the narrative rather nicely.
These stories from Bangs felt more developed than the original volume, ‘The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen’ by Raspe. Bangs present these stories as being narrated by Baron either to a reporter of the ‘Gehenna Gazette’ or to a pair of little imps and this method allows the author a better scope in creating engaging dialogs and detailing, which he does with flair. The original Baron stories had no interconnecting elements with in them and with the first-person narrative that was used, made them feel a bit like being randomly put together. But Bangs connect his stories together with some frequently appearing characters, which adds to the enjoyment of the book. The illustrations by Peter Newell, the American artist who drew illustrations for books by authors like Mark Twain and Lewis Carroll, that accompany the text nicely reflect the humorous nature of the narrative.
With a little bit of patience these long forgotten books from a once famous satirist can connect with a modern reader and can amuse him. The book is written for the purpose of entertaining the reader through a bunch of preposterous lie’s crafted with the innocent purpose of evoking humor without any malice and are the ultimate of tall-tales. These stories often will feel like those yarns spun by a jovial uncle or a grand-father figure aimed at keeping his young listeners riveted with amusement and intrigue.
You can read my previous reviews on the works from Kendrick Bangs here:
1. Raffles Holmes & Company
2. A House-Boat on the Styx
3. The Pursuit of the House-Boat
4. Mrs. Raffles
From here you can read one of the best reviews on the original Baron stories on GR by our fellow member, Sidharth, which is crafted with the spirit and essence of these tales.
The Baron riding a half-horse, an illustration based on a story from the original Raspe series, by George Cruikshank
The original adventures of the Baron, written by Raspe in 1785 with it’s supplement stories, add-ons and sequel by various authors and publishers from late 1700s are compiled in the volume ‘ The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen ’. The Baron and his tales are still popular in Europe and several monuments built based on the themes from these tall tales stand as cultural attractions.
John Kendrick Bangs – A long forgotten bestseller author
This is my fifth book by the Victorian humorist ‘John Kendrick Bangs’ – the man who created the ‘Bangsian fantasy’ genre & who was the Associate Editor of Life Magazine, and later Editor to the Humor department of the Harper’s Weekly – an author who despite being one of the most prolific contributors to the satire & fantasy segment and who enjoyed considerable popularity during the late 1800s and early 1900s, is a largely unknown entity in the modern world. Books in his ‘Hades’ series, topped the bestseller charts in late 1890s.
His contributions through parodies and humor pieces were later adapted by or became inspirations for numerous authors. We can trace the genre of fantasy or horror fiction, in which spirits convey their messages through typewriters to Bang’s tale of ‘The Poetic June-Bug’ from ‘Baron Munchausen: An Account of His Recent Adventures’ and to his ‘The Enchanted Typewriter’, the third book from the ‘Associated Shades’/ ‘Hades’ series. His work ‘Raffles Holmes & Company’ can be seen as one of the earliest works, which inspired a whole series of ‘Sherlock Holmes’ and ‘Raffles’ pastiches.
‘Mr. Munchausen – An account of some of his recent Adventures’
In 1901, John Kendrick Bangs rebooted the Baron tales with a volume titled, ‘Baron Munchausen: An Account of His Recent Adventures‘ or ‘Mr. Munchausen’, written in his own Bangsian fantasy format retaining or even improving the element of humor and narration that was followed in the original Baron stories. Bangs cleverly connected the new adventures of Baron to his ‘Hades’ series by presenting the Baron as a dead member residing at Hades and presenting the stories as originally published in the Sunday edition of ‘Gehenna Gazette’, a newspaper from Hades.
In the initial chapter of the book, following the true Munchausen form Bangs narrates the way in which he came across these tales published in Hades, by creating a tall-tale of his own in which the author gets a phone call from the Baron who himself narrate these stories over phone along with a permission to Bangs for publishing these ‘true’ stories of adventure.
“If these stories which follow shall serve to rehabilitate Baron Munchausen as a lover and practitioner of the arts of Truth, I shall not have made the sacrifice of my time in vain. If they fail of this purpose I shall still have the satisfaction of knowing that I have tried to render a service to an honest and defenceless man.”
Bangs describes his motivation behind the publication of these adventures in a parodied foreword to the book, which sets the tone for the narrative rather nicely.
These stories from Bangs felt more developed than the original volume, ‘The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen’ by Raspe. Bangs present these stories as being narrated by Baron either to a reporter of the ‘Gehenna Gazette’ or to a pair of little imps and this method allows the author a better scope in creating engaging dialogs and detailing, which he does with flair. The original Baron stories had no interconnecting elements with in them and with the first-person narrative that was used, made them feel a bit like being randomly put together. But Bangs connect his stories together with some frequently appearing characters, which adds to the enjoyment of the book. The illustrations by Peter Newell, the American artist who drew illustrations for books by authors like Mark Twain and Lewis Carroll, that accompany the text nicely reflect the humorous nature of the narrative.
With a little bit of patience these long forgotten books from a once famous satirist can connect with a modern reader and can amuse him. The book is written for the purpose of entertaining the reader through a bunch of preposterous lie’s crafted with the innocent purpose of evoking humor without any malice and are the ultimate of tall-tales. These stories often will feel like those yarns spun by a jovial uncle or a grand-father figure aimed at keeping his young listeners riveted with amusement and intrigue.
You can read my previous reviews on the works from Kendrick Bangs here:
1. Raffles Holmes & Company
2. A House-Boat on the Styx
3. The Pursuit of the House-Boat
4. Mrs. Raffles
From here you can read one of the best reviews on the original Baron stories on GR by our fellow member, Sidharth, which is crafted with the spirit and essence of these tales.
January 2, 2024
Entertaining mystery listening 🎶🔰
This was a free novella e-book from Amazon by John Kendrick Bangs.
I have listened 🎶 to a number of novels and novellas by John Kendrick Bangs and not been disappointed.
Mr. Munchausen is a con artist and thief in England. Things are changing but he is not paying attention then the end comes.
I would recommend this novella e-book and author to 👍 readers of mystery novels 👍🔰. 2024 😅😤👑
This was a free novella e-book from Amazon by John Kendrick Bangs.
I have listened 🎶 to a number of novels and novellas by John Kendrick Bangs and not been disappointed.
Mr. Munchausen is a con artist and thief in England. Things are changing but he is not paying attention then the end comes.
I would recommend this novella e-book and author to 👍 readers of mystery novels 👍🔰. 2024 😅😤👑
March 21, 2025
Clever intelligent humor. The fourth and final book of the Associated Shades series by Bangs, this was great fun. Having an original edition with color illustrations by Peter Newell, foxed and brittle pages, musty smell and all else that goes with an old book made this a further sensory delight to hold and read.
December 7, 2016
Absolutely loved these tall tales of ridiculous wild adventures by Mr Munchausen!
November 20, 2019
It's many years since I read the original on which this book is based. Maybe distance lends enchantment, but I found this rather heavy going at times.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews