# The Cambridge History of American Literature/Book II/Chapter IV
### § 1. Early Years.

WASHINGTON IRVING was born in William Street, New York City, 3 April, 1783. As this was the year in which the colonies finally achieved the independence for which they had been fighting for seven years, Irving may be regarded as the first author produced in the new republic.
The writer recalls that he visited Sunnyside with his father a year or two before the death of Irving and heard him narrate, doubtless not for the first time, how, when he was a youngster a year old, his nurse had held him up in her arms while Washington was passing by on horseback, in order that the General might place his hand on the head of the child who bore his name. “My nurse told me afterwards,” said Irving, “that the General lifted me in his arms up to the pommel of his saddle and bestowed upon me a formal blessing.” The listening boy looked, with reverential awe, at the head that had been touched by the first president, but when later he told his father about Irving’s words, the father said: “You did not see the spot that Washington touched.” “And why not?” was the natural question. “You goose,” came the retort, “do you not know that Mr. Irving wears a wig?”
Washington Irving was prevented by poor health from following his two elder brothers to Columbia College. His formal training was limited to a course of a few years in the public schools of the day. He had always, however, encouraged in himself a taste for reading and an interest in human affairs so that his education went on steadily from year to year. His father, a Scotchman by birth, had built up an importing business and ranked well among the leading merchants of the city. The family comprised in all five sons and two daughters. The relations to each other of these brothers and sisters were always closely sympathetic, and throughout the record of Irving’s career the record of Irving’s career the reader is impressed with the loyal service rendered, first, by the elder brothers to the younger, and later, when the family property had disappeared and the earnings of the youngster had become the mainstay of the family, by Washington himself to his seniors, and to his nieces.

### § 2. First Voyage to Europe.

In 1804, Irving, who had just attained his majority, made his first journey to Europe. His father had died some years earlier, and the direction of the family affairs was in the hands of the eldest brother William. The trip seems to have reestablished Washington’s health, which had been a cause of anxiety to his brothers. After a voyage of forty-two days he landed in Bordeaux, whence he journeyed to Paris. He then travelled by way of Marseilles to Genoa, from which point he went by stage-coach through some of the picturesque regions in Italy. It was on these trips that he secured his first impressions of the Italian hill country and of the life of the country folk, impressions that were utlized later in the Tales of a Traveller. From Naples, crossing to Palermo, he went by stage to Messina, and he was there in 1805 when the vessels of Nelson passed through the straits in their search for the combined French and Spanish fleet under Villeneuve, a search which culminated in the great victory at Trafalgar.
Journeying in Europe during those years of war and of national upheaval was a dangerous matter. Irving was stopped more than once, and on one occasion was arrested at some place in France on the charge of being an English spy. He seems to have borne the troublesome interruptions with a full measure of equanimity, and he used each dealy to good purpose as an opportunity for a more leisurely study of the environment and of the persons with whom he came into touch. He returned to New York early in 1806, shortly after Europe had been shaken by the battle of Austerlitz.
Irving was admitted to the bar in November, 1806, having previously served as attorney’s clerk, first with Brockholst Livingston and later with Josiah Ogden Hoffman. The law failed, however, to exercise for him any fascination, and his practice did not become important. He had the opportunity of being associated as a junior with the counsel who had charge of the defence of Aaron Burr in the famous trial held in Richmond in June, 1807. The writer remembers the twinkle in the old gentleman’s eye when he said in reply to some question about his legal experiences, “I was one of the counsel for Burr, and Burr was acquitted.” In letters written from Richmond at the time, he was frank enough, however, to admit that he had not been called upon for any important service. During Irving’s brief professional association with Hoffman, he was accepted as an intimate in the Hoffman family circle, and it was Hoffman’s daughter Matilda who was the herione in the only romance of the author’s life. He became engaged to Matilda when he was barely of age, but the betrothal lasted only a few months, as she died suddenly at the age of seventeen. At the time of Irving’s death it was found that he was still wearing on his breast a locket containing her miniature and lock of hair that had been given to him half a century before.

### § 3. Salmagundi.

The first literary undertaking to which Irving’s pen was devoted, apart from a few ephemeral sketches for one of the daily papers, was a serial publication issued at irregular intervals during 1807–08, under the title of Salmagundi. In this work, Irving had the collaboration of his brother Williams and his friend James K. Paulding. The Salmagundi papers, reissued later in book form, possess, in addition to their interest as humorous literature, historical value as pictures of social life in New York during the first decade of the nineteenth century.

### § 4. Diedrich Knickerbocker.

The famous History of New-York was published in 1809. The mystery surrounding the disappearance of old Diedrich Knickerbocker, to whom was assigned the authorship, was preserved for a number of months. The first announcement of the book stated that the manuscript had been found by the landlord of the Columbian Hotel in New York among the effects of a departed lodger, and had been sold to the printer in order to offset the lodger’s indebtedness. Before the manuscript was disposed of, Seth Handaside, the landlord, inserted in New York and Philadelphia papers an advertisement decribing Mr. Knickerbocker and asking for information about him. When acknowledgment of the authorship of the book was finally made by Irving, it was difficult for his fellow New Yorkers to believe that this unsuccessful young lawyer and attractive “man about town” could have produced a work giving evidence of such maturity and literary power. He had secured an excellent position in New York society, a society which in the earlier years of the century was still largely made up of the old Dutch families. In the ‘veracious chronicle’ of Mr. Knickerbocker free use was made of the names of these historic families, and it is related that not a few of the young author’s Dutch friends found it difficult to accord forgiveness for the liberty that had been taken with their honourable ancestors in making them the heroes of such rollicking episodes.
After a brief editorial experience in charge of a Philadelphia magazine called the Analetic, to which he contributed some essays later included in The Sketch Book, Irving enjoyed for a few months the excitement of military service. He was appointed a colonel on the staff of Governor Tompkins, and during the campaign of 1814 was charged with responsibilities in connection with the defence of the northern line of New York.

### § 5. England.

In 1810, Irving had been taken into partnership with his two brothers, Peter and Ebenezer, who were carrying on business as general merchants and importers; and on the declaration of peace in 1814 he was sent by his firm to serve as its representative in Liverpool. If the business plans of that year had proved successful, it is possible that Irving might for the rest of his life have remained absorbed in commercial undertakings, but in 1818 the firm was overtaken by disaster and the young lawyer-merchant (never much of a lawyer and by no means important as a merchant) found himself adrift in England with small funds and with no assured occupation or prospects. He had already come into friendly relations with a number of the leading authors of the day, a group which included Scott, Moore, Southey, and Jeffrey. Scott had in fact sought him out very promptly, having years earlier been fascinated by the originality and the humour shown in The History of New-York.
After a couple of years of desultory travelling and writing, Irving completed a series of papers which were published in New York in 1819–20 and in London in 1820, under the title of The Sketch Book. It is by this volume that he is today best known among readers on both sides of the Atlantic. The book has been translated into almost every European tongue, and for many years it served, and still serves, in France, in Germany, and in Italy as a model of English style and as a textbook from which students are taught their English. In this latter role, it took, to a considerable extent, the place of The Spectator.

### § 6. Spain; The Spanish Books.

The publication by Murray of The Sketch Book, and two years later of Bracebridge Hall, brought Irving at once into repute in literary circles not only in Great Britain, but on the Continent. In 1826, after a year or two chiefly spent in travelling in France, Germany, and Italy, he was appointed by Alexander Everett, at that time Minister to Spain, attache to the Legation at Madrid, and this first sojourin in Spain had an important influence in shaping the direction of Irving’s future literary work. In July, 1827, he brought to completion his biography of Columbus, later followed by the account of the Companions of Columbus (1831). The Columbus was published in London and in Philadelphia in 1828 and secured at once cordial and general appreciation. Southey wrote from London: “This work places Irving in the front rank of modern biographers”; and Edward Everett said that “through the Columbus, Irving is securing the position of founder of the American school of polite learing.” Irving continued absorbed and fascinated with the examination of the Spanish chronicles. He made long sojourns in Granada, living for a great part of the time within the precincts of the Alhambra, and later he spent a year or more in Seville. He occupied himself collecting material for the completion of The Conquest of Granada, published in 1829, and for the Legends of the Alhambra, published in 1832.
In 1828, Irving declined an offer of one hundred guineas to write and article for The Quarterly Review, of which his friend Murray was the publisher, on the ground, as he wrote, “that the Review [then under the editorship of Gifford] has been so persistently hostile to our country that I cannot draw a pen in its service.” This episode may count as a fair rejoinder to certain of the home critics who were then accusing Irving (as half a century later Lowell was, in like manner, accused) of having become so much absorbed in his English sympathies as to have lost his patriotism.
In 1829, Irving was made a member of the Royal Academy of History in Madrid, and having in the same year been appointed Secretary of Legation byLouis McLane, he again took up his residence in London. Here, in 1830, the Royal Society of Literature voted to him as a recognition of his “service to history and to literature” one of its gold medals. The other medal of that year was given to Hallam for his History of the Middle Ages. A little later Oxford honoured Irving with the degree of Doctor of Laws. The ceremony of the installation was a serious experience for a man of his shy and retring habits. As he sat in the Senate Hall, the students saluted him with cries of “Here comes old Knickerbocker,” “How about Ichabod Crane?” “Has Rip Van Winkle waked up yet?” and “Who discovered Columbus?”

### § 7. A Tour on the Prairies.

In 1832, Irving returned to New York, having been absent from his country for seventeen years. His fellow citizens welcomed him, not a little to his own discomfiture, with a banquet given in the City Hall, where the orator of the evening addressed him as the “Dutch Herodotus.” Later in the year, he made a journey through the terriotory of the Southwest, an account of which he published under the title of A Tour on the Prairies (1835). His description of St. Louis as a frontier post and of the great wilderness extending to the west of the Mississippi still makes interesting reading. Returning from his journey by way of New Orleans, he visited Columbia, South Carolina, where he was the guest of Governor Hamilton. The Governor, who had just transmitted to the legislature the edict of nullification, insisited that the author must repeat his visit to the state. “Certainly,” responded the guest, “I will come with the first troops.”
In 1834, Irving declined a Democratic nomination for Congress, and in 1838 he put to one side the Tammany nomination for mayor of New York and also an offer from President Van Buren to make him Secretary of the Navy. In 1842, he accepted from President Tyler the appointment of Minister to Spain. The suggestion had come to the President from Daniel Webster, at that time Secretary of State. The succeeding five years were in large part devoted to the collection of material relating to the history and the legends of Spain during the Moorish occupation.

### § 8. A New Publisher.

On his return to New York in 1846, he met with a serious disappointment. His books were out of print, at least in the United States, and his Philadelphia publishers assured him that, as there was no longer any public demand for has writings, it would be an unprofitable venture to put new editions upon the market. They explained that the public taste had changed, and that a new style of authorship was now in vogue. The books had in fact been out of print since 1845, but at that time Irving, still absent in Spain, had concluded that the plan for revised editions might await his return. To be told now by publishers of experience that The Sketch Book, Knickerbocker, Columbus, and the other books, notwithstanding their original prestige, had had their day and were not wanted by the new generation, was a serious shock to Irving not only on the ground of the blow to his confidence in himself as an author, but because his savings were inconsiderable, and he needed the continued income that he had hoped to secure from his pen.
His personal wants were few, but he had always used his resources generously among his large circle of relatives, and having neither wife nor child he had made a home at Sunnyside for an aged brother Ebenezer, and at one time for no less than five nieces. Some western land investments, which in later years became profitable, were at this time liabilities instead of resources, and his immediate financial prospects were discouraging. He had taken a desk in the office of his brother John Treat Irving, and to John he now spoke, possibly half jestingly, of the necessity of resuming the practice of the law. He was at this time sixty-five years of age, and as it was forty years since he had touched a law book, it is hardly likely that he could have made himself of much value as a counsellor.
One morning early in 1848, he came into the office in a joyful frame of mind. He tossed a letter over to his brother saying: “John, here is a fool of a pubsliher willing to give me $2000 a year to go on scribbling.” The “fool of a publisher” was the late George P. Putnam, who had recently returned from London where he had for eight years been engaged in the attempt to induce the English public to buy American books. Mr. Putnam now proposed to issue a uniform revised edition of all of Irving’s writings, with which should be associted the books that he might later bring to completion, and to pay to the author a royalty on each copy sold, guaranteeing against such royalty for a term of three years a sum increasing with each year. It may be mentioned as evidence of the accuracy of the publisher’s judgment that the payments during the years in which this guaranty continued were always substantially in excess of the amounts contracted for.
In 1849, the London publisher Bohn began to print unauthorized editions of the various books of Irving. A series of litigations ensued, as a result of which the authorized publishers, Murray and Bentley, discouraged with a long fight and with the great expense incurred in securing protection under the existing copyright regulations, accepted the offer of the priate for the use, at a purely norminal price, of their publishing rights, and Irving’s works came thus to be included in Bohn’s Library Series. Copyright in Great Britain, as in the United States, was in 1850 in a very unsatisfactory condition, and it was not easy to ascertain from the provisions of the British statute just what rights could be maintained by alien authors. So far as American authors were concerned, this uncertainty continued until, through the enactment of the statue of 1891, an international copyright relation was secured.
As one result of the transfer to Bohn of the control of the English editions of Irving’s earlier volumes, the author found that he could not depend upon any material English receipts for his later works. For the right to publish the English edition of the Life of Washington (a work comprised in five volumes) Bentley paid the sum of £50, which was a sad reduction from the £3000 that Murray had given him for the Columbus.
In December, 1852, Irving wrote to his American publisher a letter of thanks, which is notable as an expression both of the sense of fairness and of the modest nature of the man. That this expression of friendship was not a mere empty courtesy, he had opportunity of making clear a few years later. In 1857, partly because of the mismanagement of his financial partner and partly because of the general financial disasters of the year, Mr. Putnam was compelled to make an assignment of his business. Irving received propositions from a number of other publishers for the transfer of his books, the commercial value of which was now fully appreciated. From some of these propositions he could have secured more satisfactory returs than were coming to him under the existing arrangement. He declined them all, however, writing to his publisher to the effect that as long as a Putnam remained in the publishing business, he proposed to retain for his books the Putnam imprint. He purchased from the assignee the plates and the publishing agreements; he held these plates for a year or more until Mr. Putnam was in a positon to resume the control of the publication, and he then restored them to his publisher. He waived the larger proceeds to which, as the owner of the plates, he would have been entitled, and insisted that the old publishing arrangement should be resumed. Such an epiosde is interesting in the long and somewhat troubled history of the relations of authors with publishers, and it may be considered equally creditable to both parties.

### § 9. Later Years.

The final, and in some respects the greatest of Irving’s productions, the Life of Washington, was completed on his seventy-sixth brithday, 1859, and a month or two later he had the pleasure of holding in his hands the printed volume. His death came on 29 November, of the same year, and he ws laid to rest in the beautiful little graveyard of the Sleepy Hollow Church. The writer has in his memory a picture of the great weather-beaten walls of the quaint little church with the background of forest trees and the surroundings of the moss-covered graves. Beyond on the roadside could be seen the grey walls of the mill, in front of which Ichabod Crane had clattered past, pursued by the headless horseman. The roadside and the neighbouring fields were crowded with vehicles, large and small, which had gathered from all parts of the countryside. It was evident from the words and from the faces of those that had come together that the man whose life was closed had not only made for himself a place in the literature of the world, but had been accepted as a personal friend by the neighbours of his home.

### § 10. Irving’s Cosmopolitanism.

Washington Irving occupied an exceptional position among the literary workers of his country. It was his good fortune to begin his writing at a time when the patriotic sentiment of the nation was taking shape, and when the citizens were giving their thoughts to the constructive work that was being done by their selected leaders in framing the foundations of the new state. It was given to Irving to make clear to his countrymen that Americans were competent not merely to organize a state, but to produce literature. He was himself a clear-headed and devoted patriot, but he was able to free himself from the local feeling of antagonism towards the ancient enemy Great Britain, and from the prejudice against other nations, always based upon ignorace, that is so often confused with patriotism. Irving’s early memories and his early reading had to do with the events and with the productions of colonial days. Addison and Goldsmith are the two English writers with whose works his productions, or at least those relating to English subjects, have been most frequently compared. His biography of Goldsmith shows the keenest personal sympathy with the sweetness of nature and the literary ideals of his subject. Irving’s works cam,e therefore, to be a connecting link between the literature of England (or the English-inspired literatre of the colonies) and the literary creations that were entitled to the name American, and they expressed the character, the method of thought, the ideals, and the aspiration of English folk on this side of the Atlantic.

### § 11. A History of New York.

The greatest intellectural accomplishment to be credited to New York during the first years of the republic was the production of The Federalist. It is fair to claim, however, that with Irving and with those writers immediately associated with his work during the first quarter of the nineteenth century, began the real literature of the country. Partly by temperament and by character, and partly, of course, as a result of the opportunities that came to him after a close personal knowledge of England, with a large understanding of things Continental, Irving, while in his convictions a sturdy American, became in his sympathies a compolitan. His first noteworthy production, The History of New-York, is so distinctive in its imagination and humour that it is difficult to class. It is purely local in the sense that the characters and the allusions all have to do with the Dutch occupation of Manhattan Island and the Hudson River region, but, as was evidenced by the cordial appreciation given to the book on the other side of the Atlantic, the humour of Mr. Knickerbocker was accepted as a contribution to the literature of the world.

### § 12. The Sketch Book.

In the production of The Sketch Book, Irving was able not only to enhance his fame by a charming contribution to literature, but to render a special service to two countries, England and America. The book came into print at a time when the bitterness of the war which closed in 1814 was still fresh in the minds of both contestants. It was a time when it was the fashion in America to use Great Britain as a bugaboo, as a synonym for all that was to be abominated in political theories and in political action. The word “British” was associated in the minds of most Americans with an attempt at domination, while in England, on the other hand, references to the little Yankee nation were no more friendly, and things American were persistently decried and sneered at.
It was of enormous value that at such a period, first in the list of patriotic Americans who through sympathetic knowledge of England have come to serve as connecting links between the two countries, Irving should have been a resident in England and should have absorbed so thoroughly the spirit of the best that there was in English life. It was in part because men honoured in Great Britain, writers like Scott, Southey, Rogers, Roscoe, Moore, men of affairs like Richard Bentley, John Murray, and many others, came not only to respect, but to have affectionate regard for, the American author, and it was in part because the books written by this man showed such sympathetic appreciation of things and of men English, that England was brought to a better understanding of the possibilities of America. If there could come from the States a man recognized as one of nature’s gentlemen, and to be accepted as a companion of the best in the land, a man whose writings of things English won the highest approval of the most authoritative critics, it was evident that there were possibilities in this new English-speaking state. If one American could secure friendships in Great Britain, if one American could make a noteworthy contribution to the literature of the English tongue, the way was thrown open to other American to strengthen and widen the ties and the relations between the tow contries. An American critic who might have been tempted to criticize some of the papers in The Sketch Book as unduly English in their sympathies and as indicating a surrender by the author of his American principles, was estopped from any such folly by the fact that the same volume contained those immortal legends of the Hudson, Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. In these stories, poems in prose, the author utilized, as the pathway and inspiration for his imagination, the great river of which he was so fond. If Irving’s descriptions of rural England were to give fresh interest to American readers in the old home of their forefathers, the skill with which he had utilized the traditional legends of the Catskill Mountains and had woven fanciful stories along the roadway of Sleepy Hollow made clear to readers on the other side of the Atlantic that imagination and literary style were not restricted to Europe.

### § 13. Bracebridge Hall.

The work begun in The Sketch Book was continued in Bracebridge Hall. Here also we have that combination (possibly paralleled in no other work of literature) of things English and things American. Squire Bracebridge is, of course, a lineal descendant of Sir Roger de Coverley. It is not necesary, however, because Irving was keenly sympathetic with Addison’s mode of thought, to speak of Irving’s hero as an imitation. England has produced more than one squire, and Bracebridge and the family of the Hall were the creations of the American observer. The English home of the early nineteenth century is presented in a picture that is none the less artistic because it can be accepted as trustworthy and exact. In this volume we have also a characteristic American study, Dolph Heyliger, a fresh romance of Irving’s beloved Hudson River.

### § 14. Tales of a Traveller.

The Tales of a Traveller, the scenes of which were laid partly in Italy, show the versaility of the author in bringing his imagination into harmony with varied surroundings. Whether the subject be in England, in France, or in Italy, whether he is writing of the Alhambra or of the Hudson, Irving always succeeds in coming into the closet sympathy with his environment. He has the artist’s touch in the ability to reproduce the atmosphere in which the scenes of his stories are placed.

### § 15. Life of Columbus.

The Life of Columbus may be considered as presenting Irving’s first attempt at history, but it was an attempt that secured for him at once a place in the first rank among historians. In this biography, Irving gave ample evidence of his power of reconstituting the figures of the past. He impresses upon the reader the personality of the great discoverer, the idealist, the man who was so absorbed in his own belief that he was able to impress this upon the skeptics about him. We have before us a vivid picture of the Spanish Court from which, after patient effort, Columbus secured the grudging support for his expedition, and we come to know each member of the little crew through whose service the great task was brought to accomplishment. Irving makes clear that the opposition of the clerics and the apathy of King Ferdinand were at last overcome only through the sympathetic support given to the project by Queen Isabella.

### § 16. The Conquest of Granada.

In the Conquest of Granada, the narrative is given in a humorous form, but it respresents the result of very thorough historic research. By the device of presenting the record through the personality of the mythical priestly chronicler, Fray Agapida, blindly devoted to the cause of the Church, Irving is able to emphasize less invidiously than if the statements were made direct, the bitterness, the barbarism, and the prejudices of the so-called Christinanity of the Spaniards. Through the utterances of Agapida, we come to realize the narrowness of Ferdinand and the priestly arrogance of Ferdinand’s advisers. The admiration of the reader goes out to the fierce patriotism of the great Moorish leader, El Zagal, and his sympathies are enlisted for the pathetic career of Boabdil, the last monarch of Granada. Granada was Irving’s favourite production, and he found himself frankly disappointed that (possible on the ground of the humorous form given to the narrative) the book failed to secure full acceptance as history and was not considered by the author’s admirers to take rank with his more popular work.

### § 17. Legends of the Alhambra.

The Alhambra, which has been called the “Spanish Sketch Book,” is a beautiful expression of the thoughts and dreams of the author as he muses amid the ruins of the Palace of the Moors. The reader feels that in recording the great struggle which terminated in I492 with the triumph of Spain, Irving’s sympathies are not with the conquering Christians but with the defeated Moslems.

### § 18. Life of Mahomet.

The Life of Mahomet and the supplementary volume on the successors of Mahomet followed in 1849–50. The biographies consitute good narrative and give futher examples of the author’s exceptional power of characterization. If they fail to reach the high standard of the Columbus, it is doubtless because Irving possessed no such close familiarity with the environment of his subjects. In Spain he had made long sojourns and had become imbued with the atmosphere of the Spanish legends and ideals. He knew his Italy, in like manner, from personal observation and from sympathetic relations with the peasants no less than the scholards, but Arabia was to him a distant land.

### § 19. Life of Washington.

The writing of Columbus prepared the way for Irving’s chief historical achievement. The Life of Washington is not only a biography presenting with wonderful precision and completeness the nature and career of a great American, but a study, and the first study of importance, of the evolution of the republic. Irving had given thought and planning to the biography for years before he was able to put a pen to the work. As early as 1832 he had confided to some of his nearer friends his ambition to associate his name with that of Washington and to devote such literary and historical ability as he possessed to the creation of a literary monument to the Father of the Republic. The work had, of necessity, been postponed during his long sojourn in England and the later residence in Spain, but he never permitted himself to put the plan to one side. As soon as the sales of the new Putnam edition of the earlier works and of the later volumes that he had been able to add to these freed him from financial care, he began the collection of material for the great history. He had already travelled over much of the country with which the career of his hero was connected. He knew by the observations of an inteligent traveller the regions of New England, New Jersey, Western Pennsylvania, and Virginia, while with the territory of New York he had from his youth been familiar. The Hudson River, which had heretofore served as the pathway for Irving’s dreams of romance, was now to be studied historically as the scene of some of the most critical of the campaigns of the Revolution. Since the date of Irving’s work, later historians have had the advantage of fuller material, particularly that secured from the correspondence in the homes of Revolutionary leaders, North and South, but no later historian has found occasion for any corrections of importance, either in the details of Irving’s narrative, or in his analysis of the characters of the men through whom the great contest was carried on. Irving possessed one qualification which is lacking in the make-up of not a few conscientious and able historians. His strain of romance and his power of imagination enabled him to picture to himself and to make vivid the scenes described, and the nature, the purpose, and the manner of thought of each character introduced. The reader is brought into personal association with the force and dignity of the great leader; with the assumption, the vanity, the exaggerated opinion of his powers and ability of Charles Lee; with the sturdy patriotism, the simple-hearted nature, persistence, and pluck of the pioneer fighter Isreal Putnam; with the skill, leadership, and unselfishness of Philip Schuyler; with the pettiness and bumptiousness of Gates; with the grace, fascination, and loyalty of Lafayette; and with the varied attainments and brilliant qualities of that wonderful youth Alexander Hamilton. We are not simply reading descriptions, we are looking at living pictures, and the historic narrative has the quality of a vitascope.
The production of this great history constituted a fitting culmination to the literary labours of its author. When Irving penned the last word of the fifth volume of the Washington, he was withing a few months of his death. The work on this volume had in fact been a strain upon his death. The work on this volume had in fact been a strain upon his vitality, and there were times when he needed to exert his will power to the utmost in order to complete the task allotted to himself for the day. He said pathetically from time to time to his nephew and loyal aid Pierre and to his friend Putnam, “I do not know wheather I may be spared to complete this history, but I shall do my best.” In this his final work, the shaping of the fifth volume, he did his best.
It may fairly be contended for this American author, whose work dates almost from the beginning of the Republic, that his writings possess vitality and continued importance for the readers of this later century. His historical works have, as indicated, a distinctive character. They are trustworthy and dignified history, while they possess the literary charm and grace of the work of a true man of letters. For the world at large, Irving will, however, doubtless best be known by his works of imagination, and the students in the gallery in Oxford who chaffed “Diedrich Knickerbocker” as he was receiving his degree were probably right in selecting as the characteristic and abiding production of the author his Rip Van Winkle.

### Footnotes

* ↑ During these journeys he took notes, wrote them out in a full journal, portions of which are shortly to be published, and utilized his material in elaborate letters to his relations.
* ↑ See also Book II, Chaps. I, III, V, VII.
* ↑ See also Book II, Chap. I.

## Bibliography
### I. COLLECTED WORKS

Works. I vol. Paris, 1834, 1843. 2 vols. Philadelphia, 1840. 15 vols. New York, 1849–51. Vol. 16, Wolfert's Roost, 1855. 10 vols. London, 1859. 21 vols. New York, 1860–61. Vols. 17–21, The Life of Washington. 16 vols. 1860–1863. 12 vols. 1880. 27 vols. 1882. 10 vols. 1884. 12 vols. 1887. 40 vols. 1897, 1902–1903. 12 vols. 1910. In German, 74 vols. Frankfort, 1826–37.

### II(a). SEPARATE WORKS

[Washington Irving and George Caines.] A Voyage to the Eastern Part of Terra Firma, or The Spanish Main During the years 1801, 1802, 1803, and 1804. &hellip By F. Depons…. In 3 vols. Translated by an American Gentleman…. 1806. [Translation by Irving and Caines, published 1807 (?).]
[With J. K. Paulding and William Irving.] Salmagundi; or, The Whim–Whams and Opinions of Launcelot Langstaff, Esq., and Others. 2 vols. [or 20 numbers, Jan., 1807–Jan., 1808], 1807–1808. London, 1811. New York, 1814; 3rd ed. 1820. London, 1824. Paris, 1824. London, 1825. New York, 1835. London, 1839, 1850 (2 eds.). London and Glasgow, [1850–1852?]. New York, 1867. Ed. Duyckinck, E. A., New York, 1860, 1885, and Philadelphia, 1873. Swedish, 2d ed. (?), Stockholm, 1872.
A History of New York, From the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty…. By Diedrich Knickerbocker. 1809. 2 vols. 2d ed. with alterations, 1812. Philadelphia, 1819. London, 1820, 1821. Glasgow, 1821. New York, 1824. Paris, 1824 (2 eds.). London, 1825. London, 1828. Philadelphia, 1829, 1830, 1831. London, 1833, 1835, 1836. Philadelphia, 1836, 1837, 1838. London, 1845. New York, 1848, 1850, 1852, 1854. London, 1850 (2 eds.), 1854. New York, 1864. Philadelphia, 1871. New York, 1880. Grolier Club ed., 1886. Philadelphia, 1886. London, 1887. New York, 1894, 1900. German, Leipzig, 1825. French, Paris, 1827. Irving
A Biographical Sketch of Thomas Campbell, by a Gentleman of New York. Prefixed to The Poetical Works of Thomas Campbell…. Philadelphia, Baltimore, Albany, 1810. Revised in a later ed. Philadelphia, 1815. In The Poetry and History of Wyoming: Containing Campbell's Gertrude &hellip etc. New York and London, 1841.
Biography of James Lawrence, late Captain in the Navy of the United States; together with a Collection of Papers &hellip etc. New Brunswick, 1813.
The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. [7 nos.] 1819–20. [Various eds. of individual nos.]. Sketches from No. I republished in The London Literary Gazette, 1819. Nos. I–IV. I vol. London, 1820. Nos. I–VII. London, 1820, 5th ed., 1821, 1822. Paris, 1823. Leipzig, 1823. 7th American ed., Philadelphia, 1831; 1832, 1833. Paris, 1831, 1834. Lyon, 1834. London, 1834. Paris, 1836. Lüneburg, 1840. Bremen, 1840. Leipzig, 1843. Paris, 1846. London, 1850, 1847. New York, 1848. New York and London, 1849. London, 1850, 1864. New York, 1864. London, 1865, 1867, 1869. New York, 1880. Berlin, 1880. Philadelphia, 1882. Paris, 1885 [3rd issue of this, 1900; 4th, 1911]. London, 1885, 1886. Leipzig, 1886. Paris, 1887. London, 1889. Berlin, 1889. London, 1890. Philadelphia, 1891. London, 1892. Philadelphia, 1894. New York, 1894. London, 1894, 1895. Boston and New York, 1896. New York, 1898. London, 1902. New York, 1902, 1904. French: Paris, 1821, 1822 (by Delpeux and Villetard), 1862 (by Lefebvre), 1885. Dutch (by van Goor, Steenbergen), Leeuwarden, 1823. German: Berlin, 1825 (by Spiker, S. H.); Frankfort, 1870, 1876 (by Piorkowska, Jenny); Leipzig, [1882?] (ed. Gaedertz, K. T.); Berlin, 1884–85 (by R. T.). Italian, n. p., 1826 (Selections). Swedish, Upsala, 1827 (Selections); Stockholm, 1888, (by Folcker, E. G.). Countless volumes of selections from The Sketch Book have been published in the original and in translation. Perhaps the most notable are those illustrated by Darley, F. O. C., New York, 1849, Caldecott, R., London, 1876, and Rackham, A., London, 1905.
Bracebridge Hall: or, The Humorists, by Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. 2 vols. 1822. London, 1822. Paris, 1823. London, 1824. Paris, 1834. Philadelphia, 1836. Lüneburg, 1841. London, 1845, 1850. New York, 1858 (designs by Schmolze). Philadelphia, 1873. London, 1877 (selections ill. by Caldecott), 1882. London, 1890. New York, 1896. Dublin, 1898. London, 1903, 1907. French: Paris, 1823 (by Cohen, J.), 1826 (by Grandprè, G.). German: Berlin, 1826 (by Spiker, S.); Zwickau, 1826 (by Schubert, H.). Dutch, by van Goor, Steenbergen, Amsterdam, 1828. Swedish, Stockholm, 1828 (by Ekelund, J.), 1865.
Letters of Jonathan Oldstyle, Gent. By the Author of Sketch Book. With a Biographical Notice…. 1824. [Notice by Woodworth, S.] London, 1824, 5th ed. 1824. Later in Miscellanies. German by Spiker, S. H., Berlin, 1824.
Tales of a Traveller. By Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. [4 parts.] Philadelphia, 1824. 2 vols. London, 1824. Paris, 1824. New York, 1825. Paris, 1834. Philadelphia, 1837. Lüneburg, 1841. Paris, 1846. London, 1848. New York, 1850 (ill. by Darley). London, 1850 (2 eds.). New York, 1860. London, 1864. New York, 1865. London, 1875. New York, 1894, 1895 (2 eds.). French: Paris, 1825 (by Beauregard, A.); Paris, 1825 (by Lebégue). German, by Spiker, S. H., Berlin, 1825. Dutch, by van Goor, Steenbergen, Amsterdam, 1827. Swedish, Stockholm, 1829 (by Arnell), 1865. The Mysterious Stranger, Italian (by G. B.), Milan, 1826, 1884.
A History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus. 3 vols. 1828. London, 1828. Paris, 1828, 1829, 1830. New York, 1831. Philadelphia, 1841. Paris, 1846. Leipzig, 1846. London, 1847, 1850, 1860. New York, 1861. London, 1866. Genoa and Turin, 1868. Stockholm, 1873. Genoa, 1874. London, 1875. Berlin, 1878, 1886. Paris, 1891. New York, 1893. Berlin, 1907. London, 1909. French: Paris, 1828, 1836 (by Defauconpret, C. A.), 1836, 1838 (by Merruau, Paul); 9th ed. Tours, 1861. Brussels, 1863–64 (by Renson, G.). German (by Ungewitter, F. H.), Frankfort, 1828–29. Dutch, Haarlem, 1828–29. Italian, Florence, 1829–30; Milan, 1876. Spanish, Madrid, 1833 (by de Villalta, Josè Garcia), 1852, 1854. Swedish, Stockholm, 1839 (by Holmström, G.), 1862, 1894. Greek, by Aristides, G. A., Athens, 1858.
The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus, Abridged by the author…. 1829. Neustadt, 1829. New York, 1830. London, 1830. New York, 1831. London, 1831. Leipzig, 1832 (12th ed., 1882). New York, 1834. Norrköpking, 1834. Boston, 1839. Stockholm, 1843. Bath, N. Y., 1844. New York, 1850. Quedlinburg, 1863. New York, 1870. Paris, 1876, 1879, 1888. New York, 1893, 1896. French, by Dufour, J., Geneva, 1835; Paris, 1880. German, Stuttgart, 1833. Spanish, by Berguecio, Alberto, Valparaiso, 1893.
A Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada. By Fray Antonio Agapida. 2 vols. Philadelphia, 1829. London, 1829. Paris, 1829, 1841. Leipzig, 1841. New York, 1850. London, 1850. New York, 1862. Philadelphia, 1873. New York, 1892, 1893. London, 1910. French, by Cohen, J., Paris, 1829; Louvain, 1830; Brussels, 1864. German, by Sellen, G., Leipzig, 1830; 1836. Dutch, Haarlem, 1830. Swedish, by Arnell, Lars, Abo, 1830, 1831. Spanish, by Montgomery, J. W., Madrid, 1831.
Italian Voyages and Discoveries of the Companions of Columbus…. Philadelphia, 1831. London, 1831. Paris, 1831 (2 eds.). Leipzig, 1835. Stockholm, 1837. Leipzig, 1846. London, 1850. Stockholm, 1874. Leipzig, 1885. Swedish, Stockholm, 1832. French: Paris, 1833 (by Defauconpret, C. A, and B. A.–J.); Tours, 1840 (by Lebrun, Henri), 9th ed., 1864; Paris, 1880. Spanish, Madrid, 1854. Italian (selected Voyages), by Poli, B., in a Compilation by Marmocchi, F. C., 1840, 1866. With the Life and Voyages of Columbus. 3 vols. 1848–49. London, 1849, 1850. New York, 1869. London, 1885, 1892. New York, 1893.
The Alhambra: A Series of Tales and Sketches of the Moors and Spaniards…. 2 vols. Philadelphia, 1832. London, 1832. Paris, 1832 (2 eds.), 1840. Philadelphia, 1842. Leipzig, 1846, 6th ed., 1888. London, 1850. New York, 1861, 1866, 1868. Philadelphia, 1871. Stockholm, 1873. London, 1875. Berlin, 1877. Stuttgart, 1882. Halle, [1888]. New York, [1891]. London, 1896, 1908. Philadelphia, 1909. London, 1910. French: by Sobry, A., Paris, 1832; by Christian, P., Paris, 1843; by Flor, Charles, Brussels, 1855; by Viot, Richard, Tours, 1886. German: by Hell, Theod., Berlin, 1832; by Sporschil, Joh., 1832; by Bürger, F., Leipzig, before 1884; by Strodtmann, Adf., Leipzig, before 1889; by F. R., Berlin, 1889–91. Spanish: by Lamarca, D. L., Valencia, 1833; by Traveset, J. V. (biographical notice by D. A. Gonzàlez Garbìn), Granada, 1893, 2d ed.; by Muro, A., Barcelona, 1906 [?]. Swedish: by Ziedner, Mattias, Stockholm, 1833, 1834, 1863; by Alund, O. V., Stockholm, 1881. Danish: by Schmidt, R., 1860; by Sveistrup, C., 1888. Italian, Milan, 1911. Icelandic, The Legend of Prince Ahmed Al Kamel, 1860.
The Crayon Miscellany…. Philadelphia, 1835. 3 vols. I, A Tour of the Prairies. 2, Abbotsford and Newstead Abbey. 3, Legends of the Conquest of Spain. London, 1835, 1850 (1 and 2). New York, 1865. Philadelphia, 1874. New York, 1895. German, Berlin, 1835 (1 and 2). A Tour on the Prairies. Paris, 1835 (3 eds.). London, 1851. French: by Sobry, A., Paris, 1835; by Ernest, W., Tours, 1845, 1865. German, Stuttgart, 1835. Dutch, Amsterdam, 1835. Abbotsford and Newstead Abbey. Paris, 1835. London, 1850, 1864. French, by Sobry, A., Paris, 1835. Legends of the Conquest of Spain, Paris, 1836, 1840. London, 1850. German, by Lenardo, 1839.
Astoria, or Anecdotes of an Enterprise beyond the Rocky Mountains…. 2 vols. Philadelphia, 1836. London, 1836. Paris, 1836. Philadelphia, 1841. London, 1850. New York, 1868. New York and London, 1890. New York, 1897. Dutch, Haarlem, 1837. German by Brinckmeier, E., 1837; by von Treskow, A., Quedlinburg, 1837; Stuttgart, 1838. Swedish, Stockholm, 1837. French, by Grolier, P. N., Paris, 1839, 1843.
The Rocky Mountains: or, Scenes, Incidents, and Adventures in the Far West. Digested from the Journal of Captain B. L. E. Bonneville…. 2 vols. Philadelphia, 1837. In London (and later in America) as The Adventures of Captain Bonneville &hellip in the Rocky Mountains and the Far West. 1837. Paris, 1837. Philadelphia, 1843. London, 1850 (2 eds.). New York, 1861, 1868. Philadelphia, 1873. London, 1885. New York, 1898. French, by Laroche, Benjamin, Paris, 1837. German: by Freisleben, Ed., Leipzig, 1837; by von Treskow, A., Quedlingburg, 1837.
Biography and Poetical Remains of the Late Margaret Miller Davidson. Philadelphia, 1841. 3rd ed., 1842. London, 1843. Philadelphia, 1845. London [1845?] (with a biography of Lucretia Davidson by Sedgwick, A.). London [1854]. German, Leipzig, 1843.
Oliver Goldsmith: a Biography. 1849. (2 eds.) [a new life, not the sketch published with Goldsmith's writings]. London, 1849, 1850 (5 eds.). Leipzig, 1850. New York, 1864 [1873?]; another ed., with selections from Goldsmith, 2 vols., before 1876. London, [1879?]. New York, 1904. German, Berlin, 1858.
A Book of the Hudson. Collected from the Various Works of Diedrich Knickerbocker. Edited by Geoffrey Crayon. 1849.
The Crayon Reading Book &hellip selections from the various writings of Washington Irving. 1849, 1855.
Mahomet and His Successors. 2 vols. 1849–50. London, 1850. New York, 1868–69. Philadelphia, 1873. New York, 1897. London, 1905, 1909.
The Life of Mahomet. Leipzig, 1850. London, 1851, 1852 (2 eds.), 1859, [1879], 1889. German, Leipzig, 1850, 1865, 1869. Italian, by De Tivoli, G., Milan, 1854. French, by Georges, Henry, Brussels, 1865.
Lives of the Successors of Mahomet, London, 1850 (3 eds.). Leipzig, 1850. London, 1880. German, Leipzig, 1854 (?), 1865, 1874.
Wolfert's Roost and Other Papers, now First Collected…. 1855. London, 1855 (2 eds.). Leipzig, 1855. New York, 1866. Philadelphia, 1870, 1871. New York, [1873]. German, by Drugulin, W. E., Leipzig, 1855–56. Russian, The Early Experiences of Ralph Ringwood, St. Petersburg, 1856.
The Life of George Washington…. 5 vols. 1855–59. 1856–59, 1859. Leipzig, 1856–59. New York, 1861–63, 1873, 1883, 1884, 1888, 1895, 1910. German, by Drugulin, W. E., and Bülau, F., Leipzig, 1855–60; by the translator of Prescott's works, Leipzig, 1856–59. Swedish, by Alund, O. V., Stockholm, 1857–59.
Spanish Papers and Other Miscellanies Hitherto Unpublished or Uncollected. Edited by Pierre M. Irving. 1866. 2 vols. London, 1866, 1867. Philadelphia, 1871, 1873.

### II(b). SELECTIONS

The Beauties of Washington Irving&hellip Illustrations by Cruikshank. London, 1835 (4 eds), 1836, 1866, 1879, 1884, 1904.
Essays and Sketches…. London, 1837. Carlsruhe, 1839. London, 1858.
Elegant Extracts from the Complete Works of Washington Irving…. Paris, 1843.
Selections from the Works of Washington Irving. Illustrated by H. Ritter and W. Campheusen. Leipzig, 1856.
Irving Vignettes &hellip illustrations of the writings of Washington Irving, with a sketch of his life and works &hellip , and passages from the works illustrated. New York, 1858 (ill. by Darley, Allston, and others).
Erzählungen. Translated by Lindau, W. A. Dresden, 1822.
Neueste Crayon–Skizzen. Hamburg, 1840.
Ausgewählte Schriften. 4 parts. Frankfort on Main, 1846–47.
Schetsen en portretten, in Engeland en Amerika. Translated by van Goor, Steenbergen. Leeuwarden, 1823.
Verhalen…. Amsterdam, 1842.
Spogelse–og Rover historier. Translated by Winkel, F. Christiania, 1897.
Nel regno fatato; racconti di fate, geni…. Translated by Verdinois, F., Naples, 1909.

### II(c). CONTRIBUTIONS TO PERIODICALS, ETC.

(I) Letters of Jonathan Oldstyle, Gent. Nine contributions to The Morning Chronicle, beginning Nov. 15, 1802. In The Analectic Magazine: Vol. I, 1813, (2) Review of the works of Robert Treat Payne. Vol. 2, 1813, (3) Biography of Captain James Lawrence, (4) Biographical Notice of the Late Lieutenant Burrows, (5) Biographical Memoir of Commodore Perry. Vol. 3, 1814, (6) Traits of Indian Character, (7) Review of Odes (etc.) by Edwin C. Holland, (8) Philip of Pokanoket. Vol. 4, 1814, (9) Biographical Memoir of Captain David Porter. Vol. 5, 1815, (10) Biographical Sketch of Thomas Campbell. (11) Review of the Conquest of Granada. Quarterly Rev. Vol. 43, 1830. (12) Review of Slidell's Year in Spain. Quarterly Review, 1831. (13) Wheaton's History of the Northmen. No. Am. Rev., Vol. 35, 1832. (14) The Widow's Ordeal and The Creole Village. In The Mangolia Annual, 1837. In The Knickerbocker Magazine: Vol. 13,1839, (15) Letter to the Editor, (16) Sleepy Hollow. Vol. 14, 1839, (17) The Enchanted Island, (18) The Adalantado of the Seven Cities, (19) National Nomenclature, (20) Desultory Thoughts on Criticism, (21) Spanish Romance and the Legend of Don Munio Sancho di Hinojosa, (22) Guests from Gibbet Island, (23) Mountjoy. Vol. 15, 1840, (24) Letter to the Editor, (25) The Bermudas, (26) Pelayo and the Merchant's Daughter, (27) The Three Kings of Bermuda, (28) The Knight of Malta, (29) The Grand Prior of Minorca, (30) The Count Van Horn, (31) A Time of Unexampled Prosperity, The Great Mississippi Bubble, (32) Legend of the Engulfed Convent, (33) Abderaham, (34) The Taking of the Veil. Vol. 16, 1840, (35) Letter from Granada, (36) The Early Experiences of Ralph Ringwood, (37) The Seminoles, (38) Sketches in Paris in
1825. Vol. 17, 1841, (39) Broek, or The Dutch Paradise, (40) Don Juan: A Spectral Research. Vol. 23, 1844, (41) Legend of Don Roderick, (42) Legend of the Subjugation of Spain. Vol. 24, 1844, (43) A Passage from a Legend of the Subjugation of Spain, (44) Legend of Count Julian and His Family.
The Catskill Mountains. In The Home Book of the Picturesque. 1852.
Conversations with Talma. In The Knickerbocker Gallery, a Testimonial to the Editor of the Knickerbocker Magazine from its Contributors. 1855.
Washington Allston, a Biographical Reminiscence. In the article on Allston in Duyckinck's Cyclopædia of American Literature. Philadelphia, 1855.

### III. EDITED WORKS

The Analectic Magazine, containing selections from foreign reviews. Philadelphia, 1813, 1814.
[Oliver Goldsmith] Miscellaneous Works, with an account of his life and writings. 4 vols. Paris, 1824. [Vol. 1 contains Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Goldsmith by Irving.] Philadelphia, 1830.
Poems. By William Cullen Bryant, an American. Edited [with introductory dedication to Samuel Rogers] by Washington Irving. London, 1832.
The Life of Oliver Goldsmith, with Selections from his Writings. 2 vols. 1840, 1844, 1850.

### IV. LIFE AND LETTERS

Adams, Charles. Memoir of Washington Irving. n. d. [1871?].
Boynton, H. W. Washington Irving. Boston, 1901.
The Letters of Henry Brevoort to Washington Irving. Ed. Hellman, G. S., 1916.
Correspondence of Washington Irving and John Howard Payne. Scrib. Mag., Vol. 48. 1910.
Irving, P. M. The Life and Letters of Washington Irving. 1862–64. 4 vols. London, 1864. New York, 1879, 1883. [The standard life.]
The Letters of Washington Irving to Henry Brevoort; edited, with an introduction, by George S. Hellman. 2 vols., 1915.
Laun, A. Washington Irving. Ein Lebens–und Charakterbild. 2 vols. Berlin, 1870.
Leslie, Charles Robert. Autobiographical Recollections. Boston, 1860. For Irving–Leslie Correspondence, see pp. 204–302.
The Romance of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, John Howard Payne and Washington Irving. Bibliophile Society. Boston, 1907.
Stoddard, R. H. The Life of Washington Irving. 1883.
Warner, C. D. Washington Irving. Am. Men of Letters Ser. Boston, 1881.

### V. BIOGRAPHY AND CRITICISM

Irvingiana: A Memorial of Washington Irving. 1860.
An Irving Memorial. 1860.
Benson, E. Brief Remarks on The Wife of Washington Irving. 1819.
Bowen, E. W. The Place of Irving in American Literature. Sewanee Rev., vol. 14, 1906.
Bryant, William Cullen. A Discourse on the Life, Character and Genius of Washington Irving. 1860.
Burton, R. Irving's Services to American History. The New Eng. Mag., n. s., vol. 16, 1897.
Clark, L. Gaylord. Memorial of Irving. Knickerbocker Mag., vol. 55, 1860.
——Recollections of Washington Irving. Lippinc., vol. 3, 1869.
Cook, C. A Glimpse of Irving at Home. Century, vol. 12, 1887.
Cooke, John Esten. A Morning with Irving. Southern Mag., vol. 12, 1873.
Crockett, W. S. The Scott Originals (chapter XVII, Ivanhoe——“Rebecca”). London and Edinburgh, 1912.
Curtis, G. W. Washington Irving. In Literary and Social Essays. [1894?]
——Irving's Knickerbocker. Critic, vol. 3, 1883.
Dana, R. H. The Sketch Book. In No. Am. Rev., vol. 9, 1819.
Dickens, Charles. A speech at a dinner presided over by Irving, Feb. 18, 1842. In The Speeches of Charles Dickens, ed. by Shepherd, R. H. London, 1882.
Everett, Edward. Bracebridge Hall. No. Am. Rev., vol. 15, 1822. A Tour on the Prairies. No. Am. Rev., vol. 41, 1835. Astoria. No. Am. Rev., vol. 44, 1837. Remarks Before the Mass. Hist. Soc. Proceedings, 1858–60.
Eyma, X. Revue Contemporaine. 1864.
Felton, C. C. Remarks Before the Mass. Hist. Soc. Proceedings, 1858–60.
Fontaney, A. Revue des Deux Mondes. 1832.
Gaedertz, K. T. Zu Washington Irvings Skizzenbuch. (Stratford am Avon.) In Zur Kenntnis der altenglischen Bühne. Bremen, 1888.
Gosse, E. W. Irving's Sketch Book. Critic, vol. 3, 1883.
Greene, G. W. Life of Washington. No. Am. Rev., vol. 86, 1858. Irving's Works. In Biographical Studies. 1860.
Hazlitt, William. Elia, and Geoffrey Crayon. In The Spirit of the Age. 1825.
——Review of Channing's Sermons. Edinburgh Rev., vol. 50, 1829.
Holmes, Oliver Wendell. Tribute to Irving. Mass. Hist. Soc. Proceedings. 1858–60. Irving's Power of Idealization. Critic, vol. 3, 1883.
Howells, William Dean. My Literary Passions. 1895.
Jeffrey, F. The Sketch Book. Edinburgh Rev., vol. 34, 1820. Bracebridge Hall. Edinburgh Rev., vol. 37, 1822. Irving's Columbus. Edinburgh Rev., vol. 48, 1828.
Künzig, Ferdinand. Washington Irving und seine Beziehungen zur englischen Literatur des 18. Jahrhunderts. Heidelberg, 1911.
Lathrop, G. P. Poe, Irving, Hawthorne. Scrib. Mag., vol. 11, 1876.
Livingston, L. S. First Books of Irving, Poe and Whitman. Bookman, vol. 8, 1898. (A valuable bibliography.)
Lockhart, J. G. [?] On the Writings of Charles Brockden Brown and Washington Irving. Blackwood's, vol. 6, 1820.
See also Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, chap. 39.
Longfellow, H. W. Tribute to Irving. Mass. Hist. Soc. Proceedings, 1858–60.
Lowell, J. R. A Fable for Critics. 1848.
Mitchell, Donald G. Washington Irving. Atlantic, vol. 13, 1864. Memorial Address. In Bound Together, a Sheaf of Papers. 1884.
Moore, Thomas. Memoirs, Journal and Correspondence. Ed. by Lord John Russell. London, 1853. Passim.
Morris, G. D. Washington Irving's Fiction in the Light of French Criticism. Indiana University Studies, No. 30. May, 1916. Important bibliography of French reviews.
Payne, W. M. Leading American Essayists. 1910.
Plath, Otto. Washington Irvings Einfluss auf Wilhelm Hauff. In Euphorion, Zeitschrift für Literaturgeschichte. Leipzig, 1913.
Bryant and the Minor Poets
Poe, E. A. Irving's Astoria. Southern Literary Messenger, vol. 3, 1837.
Prescott, W. H. The Conquest of Granada. No. Am. Rev., vol. 29, 1829.
Putnam, G. P. Recollections of Irving. Atlantic, vol. 6, 1860.
Richards, T. A. Irving at Sunnyside. Harper's, vol. 14, 1856.
Ripley, G. Washington Irving. Harper's, vol. 2, 1851.
Saunders, F. Character Studies. 1894.
Sedgwick, A. G. Irving. Nation, vol. 36, 1883.
Sprenger, R. Uber die Quelle von Washington Irvings Rip Van Winkle. Northeim, 1901.
Taylor, J. F. Washington Irving's Mexico. A Lost Fragment. Bookman, vol. 41, 1915.
Thackeray, W. M. Nil Nisi Bonum. Cornhill Mag., vol. I, 1860.Harper's, vol. 20, 1860.
Thompson, J. B. The Genesis of the Rip Van Winkle Legend. Harper's, vol. 67, 1883.
Tilton, Theodore. A Visit to Washington Irving. Liv. Age, vol. 63, 1859.
Wallace, H. B. Literary Criticisms. Philadelphia, 1856.
Warner, C. D. Washington Irving. Atlantic, vol. 45, 1880. Irving's Humor. Critic, vol. 3, 1883. The Work of Washington Irving. 1893.
Willis, N. P. Ollapodiana. Knickerbocker Mag., Oct., 1836. Willis at Sunnyside. Liv. Age., vols. 54, 55, 1857.
Wilson, J. G. Bryant and His Friends. 1886.