Author Description

About Tales of a Traveller Tales of a Traveller is a collection of essays and short stories by American author Washington Irving, originally published in 1824. I was once at a hunting dinner, given by a worthy fox-hunting old Baronet, who kept Bachelor’s Hall in jovial style, in an ancient rook-haunted family mansion, in one of the middle counties. He had been a devoted admirer of the fair sex in his young days; but having travelled much, studied the sex in various countries with distinguished success, and returned home profoundly instructed, as he supposed, in the ways of woman, and a perfect master of the art of pleasing, he had the mortification of being jilted by a little boarding school girl, who was scarcely versed in the accidence of love. Tales of a Traveller, written during a year-long stay in Europe, mainly in Germany and France, is an important work in Irving's career, signifying his final experiments at producing fiction before focussing on history, biography, and folklore adaptations. A master of both comic and tragic themes, Irving was aware of the complementary dynamics of comedy and horror, and this selection of stories offers both. The anthology was published under Irving's pseudonym, Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.