The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., commonly referred to as The Sketch Book, is a collection of 34 essays and short stories written by the American author Washington Irving. It was published se
Title page of the first edition
A Village Choir by Thomas Webster. An 1847 painting inspired by Christmas Day
Washington Irving in 1820
An early admirer of Irving and his work, Sir Walter Scott encouraged his own publisher, John Murray, to take up The Sketch Book.
Rip Van Winkle
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"Rip Van Winkle" is a short story by the American author Washington Irving, first published in 1819. It follows a Dutch-American villager in colonial America named Rip Van Winkle who meets mysterious
The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.
…includes two of Irving's best-known stories, attributed to the fictional Dutch historian Diedrich Knickerbocker: "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle". It also marks Irving's first use of the pseudonym Geoffrey Crayon, which he would continue to employ throughout his literary career. The Sketch Book…
Depiction of Rip Van Winkle by John Quidor (1829). Housed at Art Institute of Chicago.
c. 1875 illustration of Rip Van Winkle by Thomas Nast
Rip Van Winkle Awakening from His Long Sleep by Henry Inman, 1823