Before the fall premiere of the new television series, read the original legend of Ichabod Crane, the Headless Horseman, and the singularly spooky town of Sleepy Hollow in Washington Irving's classic book When Washington Irving first published this collection of essays, sketches, and tales—originally entitled The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.—readers greeted it with enthusiasm, and Irving emerged as America's first successful professional author. This volume includes "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle," two of America's most recognizable and loved works of fiction and displays Irving's ability to depict American landscapes and culture so vividly that readers feel themselves a part of them. And it is on the basis of these two classic tales that Irving is generally credited with inventing the short story as a distinct literary genre. Also included here are gently ironic pieces about life in England that reflect the author's interest in the traditions of the Old World and his longings for his home in the New.

Sage, storyteller, and wit, Washington Irving created such staples of American fiction as the stories “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” He earned his preeminence in early American literature with the masterpieces in miniature collected here: dozens of stories, travel essays, biographical discourses, and literary musings. “His influence on American writers is unquestioned,” wrote Edgar Allan Poe, and his stories have proved as enduring as the Catskill Mountains the author immortalized. “Exceptional talent….I am one of his most ardent admirers. I admired Mr. Irving’s work so much, in fact, that I gave it the ultimate praise; I ‘borrowed it.’”—Edgar Allan Poe With an Introduction by Wayne Franklin

This perfectly spooky volume collects some of the most well-known Washington Irving tales originally published in the early to mid-19th century for a new generation of young readers—featuring a freshly reimagined cover! “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” is a ghost story of enduring popularity. In it, lovelorn schoolteacher Ichabod Crane tries to woo local heiress Katrina Van Tassel, only to draw the ire of another of her suitors—Abraham “Brom Bones” Van Brunt—who makes Ichabod the target of practical jokes. One night, at a party, Brom relays the tale of the Headless Horseman, a warrior decapitated by a cannonball who rises from his grave in their own town of Sleepy Hollow nightly to search for his missing head. When Ichabod leaves the party, he’s pursued by a cloaked rider. Could this be the Horseman…and can Ichabod escape him? “Rip Van Winkle” tells the tale of man living in colonial America who falls asleep for twenty years, waking to find his small town in the Catskill Mountains much changed. These and many other tales are included in this classic collection by Washington Irving.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories by an American writer Washington Irving. The story is set in the end of the 18th century in the Dutch settlement of Tarry Town, called Sleepy Hollow. Ichabod Crane, a lean, lanky and extremely superstitious teacher from Connecticut competes with Abraham "Brom Bones" Van Brunt for the hand of 18-year-old Katrina Van Tassel, the daughter and sole child of a wealthy farmer, Baltus Van Tassel. One autumn night, when Ichabod was returning from the party at the Van Tassels' homestead, he was followed by a rider without a head. Presumably, it was a ghost of Hessian cavalryman, who had been beheaded by a stray shot in one of the “unnamed battles” during the War of Independence (USA) and after that “rode during the night in a search of his head”…

A superstitious schoolmaster, in love with a wealthy farmer's daughter, has a terrifying encounter with a headless horseman.

A headless horseman haunts Sleepy Hollow! At least that's the legend in the tiny village of Tarrytown. But scary stories won't stop the town's new schoolmaster, Ichabod Crane, from crossing the hollow, especially when the beautiful Katrina lives on the other side.