Rudolf Erich Raspe
Encyclopedia
Rudolf Erich Raspe was a German
librarian, writer and scientist, called by his biographer John Carswell a "rogue". He is best known for his collection of tall tales, The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen, originally a satirical work with political aims.
, studied law and jurisprudence at Göttingen and Leipzig
and worked as a librarian for the university of Göttingen. In 1762, he became a clerk in the university library at Hanover, and in 1764 secretary to the university library at Göttingen. He had become known as a versatile scholar and a student of natural history
and antiquities
, and he published some original poems and also translations, among the latter of Leibnitz
's philosophical works and of Ossian
's poems. He also wrote a treatise on Thomas Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry
.
In 1767, he was appointed professor in Cassel
, and subsequently librarian. He contributed in 1769 a zoological paper to the 59th volume of the Philosophical Transactions, which led to his being selected an honorary member of the Royal Society
in London
, and he wrote voluminously on all sorts of subjects. In 1774, he started a periodical called the Cassel Spectator. From 1767, he was responsible for some collections of Frederick II, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel). He had to flee to England
in 1775 after having gone to Italy in 1775 to buy curios for the Landgrave. He was found to have sold the Landgrave's valuables for his own profit.
In London
, he employed his knowledge of English
and his learning to secure a living by publishing books on various subjects, and English translations of German works, and there are allusions to him as “a Dutch savant” in 1780 in the writings of Horace Walpole, who gave him money and helped him to publish an Essay on the Origin of Oil-painting (1781). But Raspe remained poor, and the Royal Society expunged his name off its list.
From 1782 to 1788, he was employed by Matthew Boulton
as assay-master and storekeeper in the Dolcoath mine
in Cornwall
. At the same time, he also authored books in geology
and the history of art
.
The Trewhiddle
Ingot, found in 2003, is a 150-year-old lump of tungsten
found at Trewhiddle Farm. This may predate the earliest known smelting of the metal (which requires extremely high temperatures) and has led to speculation that it may have been produced during a visit by Raspe to Happy-Union mine (at nearby Pentewan
) in the late eighteenth century. Raspe was also a chemist with a particular interest in tungsten.
Memories of his ingenuity remained to the middle of the 19th century. While in Cornwall, he seems to have written the original version of Munchausen, which was subsequently elaborated by others.
He also worked for the famous publisher John Nichols
in several projects, among which was a descriptive catalogue he compiled of James Tassie
's collection of pastes and casts of gems, in two quarto volumes (1791) of laborious industry and bibliographical rarity. Raspe then went to Scotland, and in Caithness
found a patron in Sir John Sinclair of Ulbster
, whose mineralogical proclivities he proceeded to impose upon by pretending to discover valuable and workable veins on his estates. Raspe had “salted” the ground himself, and on the verge of exposure, he absconded. He finally moved to Ireland
where he managed a copper mine on the Herbert Estate in Killarney. He died in Killarney
, County Kerry
, of typhoid, in November 1794.
The Baron Munchausen
tales were made famous when they were 'borrowed', translated into German
, and embellished somewhat by Gottfried August Bürger
in 1786—and have been among the favourite reading of subsequent generations, as well as the basis of several films, including Terry Gilliam
's The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
. Today it is not known whether anyone during Raspe's lifetime was aware of his authorship of the Adventures, other than his friend John Hawkins, the geologist and traveller to Greece. In a letter to Charles Lyell
John Hawkins mentions Raspe's authorship. It was not till 1824 that the biographer of Bürger revealed the truth about the book.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
librarian, writer and scientist, called by his biographer John Carswell a "rogue". He is best known for his collection of tall tales, The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen, originally a satirical work with political aims.
Biography
Raspe was born in HanoverHanover
Hanover or Hannover, on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, under their title as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg...
, studied law and jurisprudence at Göttingen and Leipzig
University of Leipzig
The University of Leipzig , located in Leipzig in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, is one of the oldest universities in the world and the second-oldest university in Germany...
and worked as a librarian for the university of Göttingen. In 1762, he became a clerk in the university library at Hanover, and in 1764 secretary to the university library at Göttingen. He had become known as a versatile scholar and a student of natural history
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
and antiquities
Antiquities
Antiquities, nearly always used in the plural in this sense, is a term for objects from Antiquity, especially the civilizations of the Mediterranean: the Classical antiquity of Greece and Rome, Ancient Egypt and the other Ancient Near Eastern cultures...
, and he published some original poems and also translations, among the latter of Leibnitz
Gottfried Leibniz
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was a German philosopher and mathematician. He wrote in different languages, primarily in Latin , French and German ....
's philosophical works and of Ossian
Ossian
Ossian is the narrator and supposed author of a cycle of poems which the Scottish poet James Macpherson claimed to have translated from ancient sources in the Scots Gaelic. He is based on Oisín, son of Finn or Fionn mac Cumhaill, anglicised to Finn McCool, a character from Irish mythology...
's poems. He also wrote a treatise on Thomas Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry
Reliques of Ancient English Poetry
The Reliques of Ancient English Poetry is a collection of ballads and popular songs collected by Thomas Percy and published in 1765.-Sources:...
.
In 1767, he was appointed professor in Cassel
University of Kassel
The University of Kassel, founded in 1970, is one of the newer universities in the state of Hesse. The university is in Kassel, and as of September 2010 has about 18,113 students...
, and subsequently librarian. He contributed in 1769 a zoological paper to the 59th volume of the Philosophical Transactions, which led to his being selected an honorary member of the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, and he wrote voluminously on all sorts of subjects. In 1774, he started a periodical called the Cassel Spectator. From 1767, he was responsible for some collections of Frederick II, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel). He had to flee to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in 1775 after having gone to Italy in 1775 to buy curios for the Landgrave. He was found to have sold the Landgrave's valuables for his own profit.
In London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, he employed his knowledge of English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and his learning to secure a living by publishing books on various subjects, and English translations of German works, and there are allusions to him as “a Dutch savant” in 1780 in the writings of Horace Walpole, who gave him money and helped him to publish an Essay on the Origin of Oil-painting (1781). But Raspe remained poor, and the Royal Society expunged his name off its list.
From 1782 to 1788, he was employed by Matthew Boulton
Matthew Boulton
Matthew Boulton, FRS was an English manufacturer and business partner of Scottish engineer James Watt. In the final quarter of the 18th century the partnership installed hundreds of Boulton & Watt steam engines, which were a great advance on the state of the art, making possible the...
as assay-master and storekeeper in the Dolcoath mine
Dolcoath mine
Dolcoath mine was a copper and tin mine in Camborne, Cornwall, in the United Kingdom. Its name derives from the Cornish for 'Old Ground', and it was also affectionately known as The Queen of Cornish Mines. The site is north-west of Carn Brea. Dolcoath Road runs between the A3047 road and Chapel Hill...
in Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
. At the same time, he also authored books in geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
and the history of art
History of art
The History of art refers to visual art which may be defined as any activity or product made by humans in a visual form for aesthetical or communicative purposes, expressing ideas, emotions or, in general, a worldview...
.
The Trewhiddle
Trewhiddle
Trewhiddle is a small settlement in south Cornwall, United Kingdom. It lies in the civil parish of Pentewan Valley and the ecclesiastical parish of St Austell. The nearest town is St Austell, approximately one mile to the north.-Manor of Trewhiddle:...
Ingot, found in 2003, is a 150-year-old lump of tungsten
Tungsten
Tungsten , also known as wolfram , is a chemical element with the chemical symbol W and atomic number 74.A hard, rare metal under standard conditions when uncombined, tungsten is found naturally on Earth only in chemical compounds. It was identified as a new element in 1781, and first isolated as...
found at Trewhiddle Farm. This may predate the earliest known smelting of the metal (which requires extremely high temperatures) and has led to speculation that it may have been produced during a visit by Raspe to Happy-Union mine (at nearby Pentewan
Pentewan
Pentewan is a coastal village and former port in south Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated at three miles south of St Austell at the mouth of the St Austell River....
) in the late eighteenth century. Raspe was also a chemist with a particular interest in tungsten.
Memories of his ingenuity remained to the middle of the 19th century. While in Cornwall, he seems to have written the original version of Munchausen, which was subsequently elaborated by others.
He also worked for the famous publisher John Nichols
John Nichols (printer)
John Nichols was an English printer, author and antiquary.-Early life and apprenticeship:He was born in Islington, London to Edward Nichols and Anne Wilmot. On 22 June 1766 he married Anne Cradock daughter of William Cradock...
in several projects, among which was a descriptive catalogue he compiled of James Tassie
James Tassie
James Tassie was a Scottish gem engraver and modeller.He was born of humble parentage at Pollokshaws, in Glasgow. During his earlier years he worked as a stonemason, but, having seen the collection of paintings brought together in Glasgow by Robert Foulis and Andrew Foulis, the printers, he...
's collection of pastes and casts of gems, in two quarto volumes (1791) of laborious industry and bibliographical rarity. Raspe then went to Scotland, and in Caithness
Caithness
Caithness is a registration county, lieutenancy area and historic local government area of Scotland. The name was used also for the earldom of Caithness and the Caithness constituency of the Parliament of the United Kingdom . Boundaries are not identical in all contexts, but the Caithness area is...
found a patron in Sir John Sinclair of Ulbster
Ulbster
Ulbster is a scattered crofting township, located on the east coast of the former county of Caithness Scottish Highlands and is in the Scottish council area of Highland...
, whose mineralogical proclivities he proceeded to impose upon by pretending to discover valuable and workable veins on his estates. Raspe had “salted” the ground himself, and on the verge of exposure, he absconded. He finally moved to Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
where he managed a copper mine on the Herbert Estate in Killarney. He died in Killarney
Killarney
Killarney is a town in County Kerry, southwestern Ireland. The town is located north of the MacGillicuddy Reeks, on the northeastern shore of the Lough Lein/Leane which are part of Killarney National Park. The town and its surrounding region are home to St...
, County Kerry
County Kerry
Kerry means the "people of Ciar" which was the name of the pre-Gaelic tribe who lived in part of the present county. The legendary founder of the tribe was Ciar, son of Fergus mac Róich. In Old Irish "Ciar" meant black or dark brown, and the word continues in use in modern Irish as an adjective...
, of typhoid, in November 1794.
The Baron Munchausen
Baron Munchhausen
Karl Friedrich Hieronymus, Freiherr von Münchhausen , usually known as Baron Münchhausen in English, was a German nobleman born in Bodenwerder and a famous recounter of tall tales....
tales were made famous when they were 'borrowed', translated into German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, and embellished somewhat by Gottfried August Bürger
Gottfried August Bürger
Gottfried August Bürger was a German poet. His ballads were very popular in Germany. His most noted ballad, Lenore, found an audience beyond readers of the German language in an English adaptation and a French translation.-Biography:He was born in Molmerswende , Principality of Halberstadt, where...
in 1786—and have been among the favourite reading of subsequent generations, as well as the basis of several films, including Terry Gilliam
Terry Gilliam
Terrence Vance "Terry" Gilliam is an American-born British screenwriter, film director, animator, actor and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam is also known for directing several films, including Brazil , The Adventures of Baron Munchausen , The Fisher King , and 12 Monkeys...
's The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen is a 1988 British adventure comedy film directed by Terry Gilliam, starring John Neville, Sarah Polley, Eric Idle, Jonathan Pryce, Oliver Reed, Uma Thurman, and Robin Williams.-Plot:...
. Today it is not known whether anyone during Raspe's lifetime was aware of his authorship of the Adventures, other than his friend John Hawkins, the geologist and traveller to Greece. In a letter to Charles Lyell
Charles Lyell
Sir Charles Lyell, 1st Baronet, Kt FRS was a British lawyer and the foremost geologist of his day. He is best known as the author of Principles of Geology, which popularised James Hutton's concepts of uniformitarianism – the idea that the earth was shaped by slow-moving forces still in operation...
John Hawkins mentions Raspe's authorship. It was not till 1824 that the biographer of Bürger revealed the truth about the book.
Further reading
- Carswell, John (1950) The Prospector: being the life and times of Rudolf Erich Raspe, (1737-1794). London: Cresset Press
- Linnebach, Andrea, edit. (2005) Der Münchhausen-Autor Rudolf Erich Raspe - Wissenschaft - Kunst - Abenteuer. Kassel: euregioverlag
- Wiebel, Bernhard; Ursula Gfeller (2009) Rudolf Erich Raspe als Geologe - vom "vulkanischen Mordbrenner" zum Zweifler am Vulkanismus . in: Philippia 14/1, p. 9 - 56, Kassel: Abhandlungen und Berichte aus dem Naturmuseum im Ottoneum. (containing the transcription of a letter of 40 pages, R.E. Raspe to John Hawkins, dealing geological theories)
External links
-
- The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen - Project GutenbergProject GutenbergProject Gutenberg is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks". Founded in 1971 by Michael S. Hart, it is the oldest digital library. Most of the items in its collection are the full texts of public domain books...
e-text
- The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen - Project Gutenberg
- Munchausen - Library, Munchausen.org
- Rodolph Eric Raspe, by Robert Hunt, 1885