The Reckoning

The great error in Rip's composition was an insuperable aversion to all kinds of profitable labour. As an early pioneer of the short story, Irving provides us with a host of memorable characters and haunting landscapes. Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th-century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions. Washington Irving (1783-1859). Irving's works available in Penguin Classics are The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories and A History of New York.