The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories: Or, The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. (Modern Library Classics)

With his beloved Gothic tales, Washington Irving is said to have created the genre of the short story in America. Though Irving crafted many of the most memorable characters in fiction, from Rip Van Winkle to Ichabod Crane, his gifts were not confined to the short story alone. He was also a master of satire, essay, travelogue, and folktale, as evidenced in this classic collection. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow said, "Every reader has a first book ... which, in early youth, first fascinates his imagination, and at once excites and satisfies the desires of his mind. To me, this first book was The Sketch Book of Washington Irving ... The charm of The Sketch Book remains unbroken; the old fascination still lingers about it." From the Trade Paperback edition Originally entitled, "The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.", this collection of essays, sketches, and tales established Washington's reputation as America's foremost professional author. "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle" are classics of American fiction and display Irving's ability to depict American landscapes and culture. This volume also contains a number of gently ironic pieces about life in England that reflect the author's interest in the traditions of the Old World and his longings for his home in the New. An annotated edition of "The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.," which contains more than thirty essays, sketches, and tales by nineteenth-century American writer Washington Irving, including "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow."