Hieronymus Karl Friedrich Baron von Munchhausen was a German nobleman and a famous recounter of tall tales. He joined the Russian military and took part in two campaigns against the Ottoman Turks. Upon returning home, Munchhausen recounted a number of outrageous stories about his adventures. The stories of Munchhausen were first collected and published by an anonymous author in 1781. An English version was published in London in 1785, by Rudolf Erich Raspe, as The Adventures of Baron Munchhausen. It is not clear how much of the story material derives from the Baron himself; however, it is known that the majority of the stories are based on folktales that had been in circulation for many centuries before Munchhausen's birth."