Washington Irving : History, Tales, and Sketches: The Sketch Book / A History of New York / Salmagundi / Letters of Jonathan Oldstyle, Gent. (Library of America)

I don't need to establish the credentials of Irving as a writer or his place in NY and American literary history. For those who want a good collection of Irving's works, this is well put together. For readers with less than perfect vision, the small typeface may be strain, however.

Washington Irving, in my opinion, is one of the world's great authors/statesmen/characters. This volume contains many of his earliest works, including Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle. One caution, however: these stories, etc. must be taken in the context of the times in which they were written or many may not make much sense. I highly recommend Brian Jay Jones' biography of Irving as a precursor to this volume. This excellent telling of Irving's life sets everything to the proper starting place.

with his Jonathan Oldstyle stories. And I skipped most of the Salmagundi stories, they were boring me. But now the history of New York is very funny and very amusing. It's very long and takes most of the book. There is a total change of style from pompous to light which is very refreshing.

I had read something by Irving while in school and like lots of stuff it didn't make much of an impression. Recently I read a short story and liked it enough to buy a book. I was not disappointed, Irving is a surprisingly (to me anyway) good read for the 21st century.

poor condition, item marked as "good"dust jacket water damage, as well as cover, and spotting on pages. TERRIBLE copy.LOA edition is great as a series, that's why 2 not 1 star

good classic

This book is a "must have" for every Washington Irving fan. There is just an amazing amount of his material in this edition, all of it classic. I've even found material in this edition that I hadn't read anywhere in quite a while. This edition is pretty complete, at least when it comes to short stories, sketches and essays.

Book came within the alloted time period. Hardcover is in good condition. Text is clean and follows advertised memo as Used like new.