Background on Irving

Washington Irving was born into a Scottish merchant family in the business of hardward importing on April 3, in 1783 in New York City. Irving is named after George Washington. His true passions lay in writings however, and after the family business fails in 1816 due to a strong desire to eat Irving determines to make a living off his work. Many of the settings described by Irving in his works, such as that of sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle, are derived from personal experiences in those areas during his early years in the States.

Irving returns from Europe in 1806 to train as a lawyer for the family business but performed at a very mediocre level and barely passed the bar exam. He then turns to pursue his writing with more intensity and in 1809 after the death of his fiance he completes his first book, A History of New-York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty, under the pseudonym, Diedrich Knickerbocker.

He dies in 1859, from a heart attack.