Irving’s Works

While most readers today can name his two most famous stories — “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” both of which were part of a larger serialized collection of stories and essays Irving published as The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gentleman — few realize the true expanse of Irving’s literary output. Apart from the well-known stories of Rip Van Winkle and Ichabod Crane, Irving’s breadth of work includes elegant tales of English customs, bawdy satires of Dutch politicians, densely-researched biographies of Christopher Columbus, the prophet Muhammad, and George Washington, rollicking tales of the American West, and colorful gallops through Spanish history.

Irving’s work remains perpetually in print, from inexpensive paperbacks to limited edition hardcovers. While readers are well-served by any edition of Irving’s work, I highly recommend the three collections of his writings produced by the distinguished Library of America, an organization committed to “publishing America’s best and most significant writing in authoritative editions.”

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Washington Irving:
History, Tales and Sketches

• Letters of Jonathan Oldstyle (1802)
• Salmagundi (1807)
• A History of New York (1809)
• The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. (1819)

Washington Irving

• Bracebridge Hall (1822)
• Tales of a Traveller (1824)
• The Alhambra (1832)

Washington Irving:
Three Western Narratives

• A Tour on the Prairies (from The Crayon Miscellany)(1835)
• Astoria (1836)
• The Adventures of Captain Bonneville (1837)

Other Books by Washington Irving:

• The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus (1828)
• The Chronicles of the Conquest of Granada (1829)
• Voyages and Discoveries of the Companions of Columbus (1831)
• The Crayon Miscellany (1835)
• The Life of Oliver Goldsmith (1840, revised 1849)
• Biography and Poetical Remains of the Late Margaret Miller Davidson (1841)
• Mahomet and His Successors (1850)
• Wolfert’s Roost (1855)
• Life of George Washington (five volumes, 1855-1859)