Washington Irving

Knickerbocker's History of New York, Complete Washington Irving

Publisher Marketing: KNICKERBOCKER'S HISTORY OF NEW YORK is the book, published in December, 1809, with which Washington living, at the age of twenty-six, first won wide credit and influence. Walter Scott wrote to an American friend, who sent him the second edition-- "I beg you to accept my best thanks for the uncommon degree of entertainment which I have received from the most excellently jocose History of New York. I am sensible that, as a stranger to American parties and politics, I must lose much of the concealed satire of the piece, but I must own that, looking at the simple and obvious meaning only, I have never read anything so closely resembling the style of Dean Swift as the annals of Diedrich Knickerbocker. I have been employed these few evenings in reading them aloud to Mrs. S. and two ladies who are our guests, and our sides have been absolutely sore with laughing. I think, too, there are passages which indicate that the author possesses powers of a different kind, and has some touches which remind me much of Sterne." Washington Irving was the son of William Irving, a sturdy native of the Orkneys, allied to the Irvines of Drum, among whose kindred was an old historiographer who said to them, "Some of the foolish write themselves Irving." William Irving of Shapinsha, in the Orkney Islands, was a petty officer on board an armed packet ship in His Majesty's service, when he met with his fate at Falmouth in Sarah Sanders, whom he married at Falmouth in May, 1761. Their first child was buried in England before July, 1763, when peace had been concluded, and William Irving emigrated to New York with his wife, soon to be joined by his wife's parents. Contributor Bio:  Irving, Washington One of the first American writers to gain acclaim in Europe, Washington Irving was also an essayist, a biographer, an historian, and a diplomat. He is best known for having written the short stories "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle," both of which appeared in the collection The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. Though he is best known for his short stories, Irving's written works include social and political commentary for the literary magazine Salmagundi, which he helped found, as well as biographies of a number of historical figures including George Washington and the prophet Muhammad. Irving died in 1859 at the age of 76.