"IF ALL ELSE WERE LOST, RIP VAN WINKLE AND ICHABOD CRANE WILL LIVE FOREVER": WASHINGTON IRVING'S SKETCH BOOK, SCARCE IN SEVEN ORIGINAL PARTS, FEATURING THE FIRST APPEARANCE OF "RIP VAN WINKLE"

(IRVING, Washington). The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. New York: C.S. Van Winkle, 1819-20. Seven parts. Octavo, modern plain brown paper wrappers. Housed in a custom chemise and clamshell box.

Scarce first edition in original parts, all first printings, of Irving's Sketch Book, featuring "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and the first appearance of "Rip Van Winkle."

Within these pages of Washington Irving's pseudonymously published sketches, Americans "first read of Rip Van Winkle and Ichabod Crane… [here] they learned of… the Indians, and of Old England, through the medium of a musical, rhythmical style, quiet humor and dreamy charm, which instinctively taught taste and sweetness" (Grolier 100:31). "Irving's graceful, humorous, stylistically careful writing is in the tradition of Addison, Steele and Goldsmith," and his Sketch Book was an immediate success in the United States (Hart, 369). Like Emerson, Irving "married American literature to the literature of the world. He has every right to retain the title enthusiastically bestowed upon him, of 'Father of American Literature.' And if all else were lost, Rip Van Winkle and Ichabod Crane will live forever" (Kunitz & Haycraft, 407). Features the complete first appearance of some of Irving's most famous stories, such as "Rip Van Winkle" (No. 1), "Old Christmas" (No. 5), and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" (No. 6). All parts first printings, following the points given in BAL; all seven title pages present. Without scarce copyright infringement slip in Volume II, rarely found. However, at least some of these parts—Nos. 1, 2, and 4 in particular, though possibly all of them—were bound together in book form at some point, as evidenced by offsetting from the subsequent part's title page on the last leaf of text in those three parts. They were later disbound back into the seven parts as they would have originally appeared. BAL 10106. Blackburn, 15-23. Barron 3-72. Early ink owner signature to title page of No. 1 and to first page of text of No. 7. Bookplate on chemise.

Occasional foxing, minor expert repair to title page of first part, affecting owner signature but not letterpress. An excellent set of the original parts, most scarce and desirable thus.