The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent, a collection of 34 essays and short stories by American author Washington Irving, contains the gothic tale "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." penned while Irving was a foreign resident of Birmingham, England. The first edition of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow'' appeared in 1819. "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," along with Irving's companion work "Rip Van Winkle," is one of the earliest works of American literature that has maintained enduring popularity, particularly around Halloween because of a figure known as the Headless Horseman who is thought to be a Hessian soldier who was severed by a cannonball during battle. Walt Disney created a second film adaption in 1949 as one of two episodes in the package movie The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad. The story takes place in 1790 in a remote valley known as Sleepy Hollow, in the countryside near the Dutch hamlet of Tarry Town (actual Tarrytown, New York). Sleepy Hollow is well known for its ghosts and the eerie ambiance that captures both its residents and visitors' imaginations. While on a trip to Europe, Irving created The Sketch Book, and elements of the story can also be attributed to that continent.
Washington Irving was an American short-story writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat who lived from April 3, 1783, to November 28, 1859. Rip Van Winkle (1819) and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" (1820), both of which are found in his collection The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent, are two of his best-known short stories. His historical writings include biographies of George Washington, Muhammad, and Oliver Goldsmith in addition to various histories of Spain in the fifteenth century that cover topics like the Alhambra, Christopher Columbus, and the Moors. In the 1840s, Irving represented America as ambassador to Spain. Irving made his literary debut in 1802 with a collection of observant letters to the Morning Chronicle, penned under the alias Jonathan Oldstyle. Irving was born and raised in Manhattan to a family of merchants. He temporarily relocated to England in 1815 for the family business, and it was there that he shot to popularity with the 1819–1820 serial publication of The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. He continued to publish often throughout his life, and eight months before his passing in Tarrytown, New York, at age 76, he finished a five-volume biography of George Washington.
