History, tales, and sketches
By: Washington Irving.
Series: The Library of America
Publisher: Literary Classics of the United States; Distributed to the trade in the United States and Canada by the Viking Press; Library of America, The
Published: 1983
Place of publication: New York, N.Y
Language: eng
Number of pages: 1126
Subjects: England -- Social life and customs -- 19th century; Hudson River Valley (N.Y. and N.J.) -- Fiction; Catskill Mountains Region (N.Y.) -- Fiction
Genres: Fiction.
Other titles: Letters of Jonathan Oldstyle, Gent.; Salmagundi.; History of New York.; Sketch book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.
Description: A writer of great urbanity and poise, Washington Irving was America's first internationally acclaimed man of letters. Here in one volume are the writings that established his reputation and earned him the admiration of Hawthorne, Poe, Coleridge, Byron, Scott, and Dickens. Written in the character of an elderly gentleman of the old school, "Letters of Jonathan Oldstyle, Gent." is a series of comic reports on the theater, theater-goers, fashions, balls, courtships, duels, and marriages of his contemporary New York. "Salmagundi" continues this roguish style of satire and burlesque, and its freshness, energy, and accomplishment took the Anglo-American literary scene by storm. "A History of New York," a wild and hilarious spoof combining real New York history with political satire, is presented here in its original, unexpurgated version. "The Sketch Book" is a brilliant, captivating story collection that draws on vanishing folkways, depictions of Hudson Valley life, and fable; it contains Irving's best-loved stories, "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow."
Table of contents: title: Letters of Jonathan Oldstyle, Gent.; title: Salmagundi; title: A history of New York; title: The sketch book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.