He was, in Thackeray's words, "the first ambassador whom the New World of Letters sent to the Old. " A sage, storyteller and wit, Washington Irving earned his preeminence in early American literature with these masterpieces in miniature. His tales of romance, travel, biographical sketches and literary musings introduced such classic figures of American fiction as Rip Van Winkle, Ichabod Crane, and the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow. This collection is a treasure.