The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. (1819–1820) is a collection of thirty-four essays and short stories by Washington Irving. It contains Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and was the first American book to become a best-seller in Britain.
The book
Irving published The Sketch Book in seven parts in New York in 1819–1820, under the pen name Geoffrey Crayon. Most pieces describe England, its customs, its Christmas, Westminster Abbey and Stratford-upon-Avon, seen by a curious American traveller.
The London edition, published by John Murray with the help of Walter Scott, made Irving famous in Britain.
Rip Van Winkle
In Rip Van Winkle, an idle villager of the Catskill Mountains drinks with mysterious little men playing ninepins and falls asleep for twenty years. He comes down to find his wife dead and the colony become a republic.
The story was adapted from German folk tales, and it became one of the best-known American stories.
Sleepy Hollow
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow takes place in a Dutch valley near Tarrytown, on the Hudson. The superstitious schoolmaster Ichabod Crane courts the wealthy Katrina Van Tassel and is pursued at night by the Headless Horseman.
The story has inspired films, notably Disney's 1949 cartoon and Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow (1999).
Anecdotes
A village renamed
In 1996 the village of North Tarrytown, New York, officially changed its name to Sleepy Hollow, after Irving's story.
Christmas
The Sketch Book's essays on old English Christmas customs helped revive interest in Christmas traditions in Britain and America, and influenced Dickens.
Frequently asked questions
What does The Sketch Book contain?
Thirty-four essays and stories, among them Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
Who is Geoffrey Crayon?
The pen name Irving used for the book, a gentleman traveller sketching what he sees.
Who is the Headless Horseman?
The ghost of a Hessian soldier said to haunt Sleepy Hollow, who chases Ichabod Crane.