Washington Irving (1783–1859) was an American writer, essayist, biographer, historian and diplomat who wrote in the early 19th century. He is best known for the stories "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", both gathered in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. His histories include a life of George Washington and several books on 15th-century Spain, among them studies of the Alhambra and Columbus. Irving later served as American ambassador to Spain in the 1840s, and he died in Tarrytown, New York, in 1859.
