Washington Irving was born in 1782 to Scottish-American immigrants. He attended law school but, by his own admission, wasn't a very good student. After school he spent two years traveling in France and Italy before returning to New York City to practice law. In 1809, be began to make a name for himself as a writer of humorous stories. In 1815, he went to work for his brother's business in England. When the business failed, Irving returned to writing and, in 1819, sent his brother in New York a set of short prose pieces for publication as The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. This collection, which contains both "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle," met with huge success.

Although Irving pursued other careers—for four years he was the United States Ambassador to Spain—he spent most of the rest of his life writing at his home in New York. Irving became a best-selling author and eventually earned a reputation as America's first "man of letters."