Nearly all readers today know Washington Irving as the author of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Irving is one of America's most enduring, and beloved authors. Bracebridge Hall, or The Humorists, a Medley was originally published in 1819 as written by one of Irving's pseudonyms, Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. One of Irving's better-known pseudonyms was Diedrich Knickerbocker, a name inextricably linked to New York City, and to today's New York Knicks. Bracebridge Hall's introduction greets readers with Irving's wonderment at being America's first internationally-popular author, for he writes, "I was looked upon as something new and strange in literature; a kind of demi-savage." Full of anecdotes of traveling and British culture, Bracebridge Hall provides a glimpse of the American point of view on England at the start of the 19th Century. A showpiece for Irving's humor, Bracebridge Hall, or The Humorists, a Medley, will please readers today as they were pleased at its original publication.

Author Biography

Washington Irving (1783 - 1859) was an American short story 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" (1820), both of which appear in his book The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. His historical works include biographies of George Washington, Oliver Goldsmith, Muhammad and several histories of 15th-century Spain dealing with subjects such as Christopher Columbus, the Moors and the Alhambra. Irving served as the U.S. ambassador to Spain from 1842 to 1846. Irving made his literary debut in 1802 with a series of observational letters to the Morning Chronicle, written under the pseudonym Jonathan Oldstyle. After moving to England for the family business in 1815, he achieved international fame with the publication of The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. in 1819-20.