A Great American Literary Manuscript: the Complete Conclusion, Signed and Dated, of Book 4 of Washington Irving's The Life of Washington ("In the volumes here concluded, we have endeavored to narrate faithfully the career of Washington from childhood")

Washington Irving

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He states his goal and strategy in writing this great work, this being the conclusion as sent to the printer?Other manuscripts of Washington Irving are unsigned and fragmentary and situated in the middle of other sections, making this unique in our experience. It is signed, complete as a section, and a great summation of Irving's work and intent.?Washington Irving, Literary Giant and First American Professional Author & Biographer[video width="1920" height="1080" mp4="https://cdn.raabcollection.com/wp-content/uploads/20231204112756/Untitled-5.mp4" poster="https://cdn.raabcollection.com/wp-content/uploads/20231204112751/Screen-Shot-2023-09-28-at-1.30.13-PM.jpg"][/video]?For Washington Irving, telling the story of George Washington was a lifelong passion. Irving?s mother named the future writer after Washington and took the boy to the hero?s first inauguration in 1789, where the President supposedly blessed him. It is said among the first things Irving ever wrote was on George Washington, whose biography he hoped one day to write.Washington Irving?s career as a writer started in journals and newspapers. He published Salmagundi (1807-08), and from 1812 -1814 was an editor of Analetic Magazine in Philadelphia and New York. In 1809 appeared Irving?s comic ?A History of New York?, by the imaginary Dietrich Knickerbocker, who was supposed to be an eccentric Dutch-American scholar. The book became part of New York folklore. Irving?s success continued with ?The Sketch Book?, a collection of stories that included the short stories for which he is so well known, ?The Legend of Sleepy Hollow? and ?Rip Van Winkle? The success of these stories allowed him to become America?s first professional writer, earning his living from the craft of literature.In 1828 he wrote his notable biography of Columbus, ?The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus,? which led the Spanish to elect him to the Royal Academy. In 1842 President John Tyler appointed him Ambassador to Spain, and he served in that position until 1845.After returning from Spain, Irving researched and wrote his great 5 volume magnum opus, his immortal ?The Life of George Washington?, which was published from 1855-59. He died just a few months later. It is perhaps the first great American biography and he the first prominent American biographer. As such it deserves a place in the literary history of the United States.Irving?s Assessment of Washington and the Revolution:_The Complete Original Manuscript For the Concluding Remarks of Volume 4Washington: ?He fought for a cause, but not for personal renown.?Here he provides his assessments of Washington the man, Washington the leader, the Revolutionary War and the American cause. It is a virtual guide on how to view these, full of insights and valuable perspectives.Autograph Manuscript Signed of this entire conclusion, at once both literary and biographical, sent by Irving to Putnam and retained by the latter. ?In the volumes here concluded, we have endeavored to narrate faithfully the career of Washington from childhood, through his early surveying expeditions in the wilderness, his diplomatic mission to the French posts on the frontier, his campaigns in the French war, his arduous trials as commander-in-chief, throughout the Revolution, the noble simplicity of his life in retirement, until we have shown him elevated to the presidential chair, by no effort of his own, in a manner against his wishes, by the unanimous vote of a grateful country. The plan of our work has necessarily carried us widely into the campaigns of the Revolution, even where Washington was not present in person; for his spirit pervaded and directed the whole, and a general knowledge of the whole is necessary to appreciate the sagacity, forecast, enduring fortitude, and comprehensive wisdom with which he conducted it. He himself has signified to one who aspired to write his biography, that any memoirs of his life, distinct and unconnected with the history of the war, wou.

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• Titre: A Great American Literary Manuscript: the Complete Conclusion, Signed and Dated, of Book 4 of Washington Irving's The Life of Washington ("In the volumes here concluded, we have endeavored to narrate faithfully the career of Washington from childhood")
• Reliure: Couverture souple