RUDOLF ERIC RASPE
German author (1737-1799)
Biography:
Rudolf Erich Raspe was born in Hanover in 1737. He studied Philology and Natural Sciences at Gottingen and Leipzig universities. From 1762 to 1766, he worked as librarian in Hanover and in 1767 he became teacher at Collegium Carolinum in Cassel, where he published some of his scientific work. But due to problems with the Law, he had to flee to England. While living there, Raspe succeeded in publishing anonymously a collection of humorous and highly coloured stories about Baron Münchhausen on his travels to Russia. But the stories were not successful, so Raspe gave the book to another editor, named Kearsley, who added an introductory chapter and 14 new adventurous voyages. And that's how The Adventures of Baron Munchhausen (1786) became a popular and best-selling book.
Raspe died in Northern Ireland in 1799.