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Which famous stories appeared in Washington Irving’s The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.?

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John Smith: Map of Virginia — American literature Map of Virginia from John Smith's *The Generall Historie of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles*, 1624.

Published between 1819 and 1820, The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. is a collection of over 30 pieces by Washington Irving that includes travel sketches, literary essays, and miscellany.12

While the majority of the collection focuses on Irving’s impressions of England, it is most famous for six chapters that deal with American subjects. Among these, the two most celebrated stories are:12

"Rip Van Winkle": A tale about a man who falls asleep in the Catskill Mountains for 20 years, only to wake up to a transformed world.32
"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow": A story concerning the schoolteacher Ichabod Crane and his encounter with a spectral headless horseman.42

Both stories are considered the first American short stories, though they are Americanized adaptations of German folktales. The collection's international success was a landmark event in American literary history, establishing Irving as a significant figure in the field.12