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 collection The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. His historical works include biographies of Oliver Goldsmith, Islamic prophet Muhammad, and George Washington, as well as several histories of 15th century Spain that deal with subjects such as Alhambra, Christopher Columbus, and the Moors.

Irving was one of the first American writers to earn acclaim in Europe, and he encouraged other American authors such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Herman Melville, and Edgar Allan Poe. He was also admired by some British writers, including Lord Byron, Thomas Campbell, Charles Dickens, Francis Jeffrey, and Walter Scott. He advocated for writing as a legitimate profession and argued for stronger laws to protect American writers from copyright infringement. [wikipedia]

Octavos, Forty Volumes. In Very Good condition. Uniformly bound in the publisher's original three-quarters green morocco and marbled boards, with gilt text and tooling to paneled spines. Moderate plus sunning to the spines of thirteen volumes, and light wear to all bindings overall. Top edges gilt. Marbled endpapers. One of 500 sets, this is number 202, with limitation pages in all volumes. This set contains page 209 of original manuscript of The Alhambra tipped in to Volume I of The Alhambra, containing several edits by Irving in ink. Shelved above HC Fiction.