Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories

About Washington Irving

Washington Irving was born 3 April 1783 in New York. He trained as lawyer before deciding to pursue a literary career and with his brother producing a series of satirical essays and poems. Irving wrote under pseudonyms at first: Diedrich Knickerbocker for A History of New York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty and Geoffrey Crayon Gent. for Sketch Book. The latter included pieces inspired by his travels to London during his unsuccessful efforts to save the family business from bankruptcy and Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow for which he became famous. Irving worked in Spain as a diplomatic attaché where he wrote Legends of the Alhambra in 1832 and London as secretary to the US legation. His final work was a vast biography of George Washington published in 1855. He died on 28 November 1859.