Baron Munchausen and his horse
Date
1827
Creator
Samuel Machin Slader (British) , Engraver
Object type
Library reference
CLXXIV/1
Material
Technique
Dimensions
height (print): 150mm
width (print): 85mm
width (print): 85mm
Subject
Content object
Description
Scene illustrating the tall tale of the Baron’s horse, a Lithuanian, drinking from a trough and spouting water from its body, having been cut in two by a portcullis. The missing hindquarters are shown by this gate.
Frontispiece plate from The life and exploits of Baron Munchausen. Who outdid all other travellers. Related by himself. [Rudolf Erich Raspe, et. al.), (Richard Griffin, Glasgow, 1827).
Inscribed below: ‘FRONTISPIECE (See page 13)’. Engraved within the plate, lower left: ‘SLADER’.
The accompanying text describes the supposed incident illustrated: ‘I walked my panting Lithuanian to a spring in the market-place, and let him drink. He drank uncommonly – with an eagerness not to be satisfied; but natural enough, for when I looked round for my men, what should I see? The hind part of the poor creature – croup and legs was missing, as if he had been cut in two, and the water ran out of him as it came in…when I rushed in pell-mell with the flying enemy, they had dropped the port-cullis…’
Rudolf Erich Raspe (1736-1794) German writer and scientist was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1769, and ejected in 1775, for ‘divers frauds’. The originator of the (widely embellished upon) Baron Munchausen tales.
Frontispiece plate from The life and exploits of Baron Munchausen. Who outdid all other travellers. Related by himself. [Rudolf Erich Raspe, et. al.), (Richard Griffin, Glasgow, 1827).
Inscribed below: ‘FRONTISPIECE (See page 13)’. Engraved within the plate, lower left: ‘SLADER’.
The accompanying text describes the supposed incident illustrated: ‘I walked my panting Lithuanian to a spring in the market-place, and let him drink. He drank uncommonly – with an eagerness not to be satisfied; but natural enough, for when I looked round for my men, what should I see? The hind part of the poor creature – croup and legs was missing, as if he had been cut in two, and the water ran out of him as it came in…when I rushed in pell-mell with the flying enemy, they had dropped the port-cullis…’
Rudolf Erich Raspe (1736-1794) German writer and scientist was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1769, and ejected in 1775, for ‘divers frauds’. The originator of the (widely embellished upon) Baron Munchausen tales.
Related fellows
Rudolf Eric Raspe (1737 - 1794, German) , Writer
Associated place