Washington Irving (1783–1859) is often considered America’s first professional writer, supporting himself and his family amid the ups and downs of literary fortune. He burst on the scene with his uproarious History of New York, followed by his Sketch Book, a collection of personal essays and short stories that includes “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” He was the first American writer to attain international renown, attracting such devoted fans as Charles Dickens and Lord Byron. And while he may have been overrated in his day, he has since become undeservedly neglected.

In A Washington Irving Sketch Book , Phillip Lopate reflects on the author’s humane and elegant prose style and his courage and persistence in the face of setbacks and limitations. Irving, a lifelong bachelor, was urbane, popular, and socially adept, mixing with royals as well as paupers. Underneath it all he was a melancholic loner. Yet he constantly reinvented himself, first as a satirist, then a belletrist, at times a hack writer, and finally as a serious biographer of figures like George Washington and the Prophet Muhammad. Lopate explains why minor writers like Irving have their enduring fascinations. Delving into all that is likable and perplexing about the man once considered America’s most famous writer, the celebrated author brings Irving closer to today’s readers, capturing the charm of his work and the vicissitudes of literary fashion.