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Rip Van Winkle

by Washington Irving

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Description

Rip Van Winkle is a character who inhabits a Dutch-American village in the Catskill Mountains. The story recounts his encounter with a group of mysterious strangers, after which he consumes their liquor and falls into a deep, extended sleep. Upon awakening, he finds himself in a changed world where two decades have passed, and the American Revolution has occurred during his slumber. His subsequent return to his village highlights the social and political transformations that have taken place, as well as the personal adjustments he must make to a life that has moved beyond his own time.

Published in 1819, the work is a short story that falls within the genre of American literature, embodying themes of change, memory, and the passage of time. It reflects early 19th-century American cultural and historical perspectives, combining elements of folklore and local colour to depict a humorous yet poignant view of societal evolution.

From the opening pages

Complete Edition, with 51 Illustrations in Colour. First published (15s. net) September 1905. New Impressions January 1907; August 1908; May 1909; November 1910. Cheaper Issue, with 24 Illustrations in Colour and many new Illustrations in the Text October 1916. New Impression 1917, 1919. ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR To face page “He used to console himself by frequenting a kind of perpetual club of the sages, philosophers and other idle personages, which held its sessions before a small inn” Frontispiece “Certain biscuit-bakers have gone so far as to imprint his likeness on their New-Year Cakes” x “These mountains are regarded by all good wives, far and near, as perfect barometers” x “Some of the houses of the original settlers” 2 “A curtain-lecture is worth all the sermons in the world for teaching the virtues of patience and long-suffering” 2 “Taught them to fly kites” 2 “His cow would go astray or get among the cabbages” 4 “His children were as ragged and wild as if they belonged to nobody” 4 “Equipped in a pair of his father’s cast-off galligaskins, which he had as much ado to hold up as a fine lady does her train in bad weather” 4 “So that he was fain to draw off his forces and take to the outside of the house—the only side which, in truth, belongs to a henpecked husband.” 6 “A company of odd-looking persons playing at ninepins” 10 “They maintained the gravest faces” 12 “They stared at him with such fixed, statue-like gaze, that his heart turned within him and his knees smote together” 12 “He even ventured to taste the beverage, which he found had much of the flavour of excellent Hollands” 12 “Surely,” thought he, “I have not slept here all night.... Oh! that flagon! that wicked flagon! what excuse shall I make to Dame Van Winkle?” 12 “They all stared at him with equal marks of surprise and invariably stroked their chins” 14 “A troop of strange children ran at his heels, hooting after him and pointing at his grey beard” 14 “The dogs, too, not one of whom he recognised for an old acquaintance, barked at him as he passed” 14 “He found the house gone to decay.... ‘My very dog,’ sighed poor Rip, ‘has forgotten me’” 16 “They crowded round him, eyeing him from head to foot with great curiosity” 16 Rip’s daughter and grandchild 20 “He preferred…

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