Scene from The Adventures of Baron Munchausen by Rudolph Erich Raspe, c1850. Artist: Anon

Scene from The Adventures of Baron Munchausen by Rudolph Erich Raspe, c1850. Munchausen, surprising artillerymen by arriving in their midst mounted on a cannon ball. From R.E.. Raspe et al The Travels and Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen, first published 1785. From a French edition c.1850. From a French edition c1850. From The Adventures of Baron Munchausen by Rudolph Erich Raspe. (Paris, c1850). First published London, 1785. Raspe (1737-1794), German scholar and adventurer, published these tall stories when in need to money while exiled in England. They were based on the tales that Karl Friedrich Hieronymous von Munchausen (1720-1797), German braggart and pathological liar, told about his time serving the Russian army fighting against the Turks. (Photo by Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)