The Sketch Book, (original title, The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., is a collection of 34 short stories written by the American author Washington Irving.
The collection 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 brilliant literary career.
WASHINGTON IRVING (1783–1859) was an American writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He is best known for his short stories "Rip Van Winkle" (1819) and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow". He achieved international fame with the publication of The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., serialized from 1819–20. He continued to publish regularly throughout his life, and eight months before his death (at age 76, in Tarrytown, New York), completed a five-volume biography of George Washington. As the United States' first internationally best-selling author, Irving advocated for writing as a legitimate profession and argued for stronger laws to protect American writers from copyright infringement. He served as the U.S. ambassador to Spain from 1842 to 1846.
