Best Washington Irving Books
Washington Irving invented the American ghost story before anyone knew that was a thing worth inventing. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle aren't just enduring tales — they're the originals, the templates that generations of horror and folklore writers have been quietly borrowing from ever since. Irving's prose has a lush, almost theatrical quality: fog-draped landscapes, characters caught between the waking world and something stranger, a tone that plays wry comedy and genuine dread against each other until you're not sure which wins. The Devil and Tom Walker shows the same gift — a Faustian bargain told with the dry moral satisfaction of a man who knows exactly what he's doing. Readers who love folk horror, early American atmosphere, and stories that feel like they were passed down rather than written will find Irving essential.
Where to Start with Washington Irving
- Best entry point → The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
- Best standalone → Ghost Stories: Stephen Fry's Definitive Collection
- What readers keep coming back to → Rip Van Winkle
- Highest rated by readers → The Devil and Tom Walker
Best Washington Irving Books
- 1
Ghost Stories: Stephen Fry's Definitive Collection
by Stephen Fry, Washington Irving, M.R. James, Amelia B. Edwards, Robert Louis Stevenson, Algernon Blackwood, Edgar Allan Poe, Charlotte Riddell, Bram Stoker
★ 4.11 BLT Score (1.4K ratings)★ 3.97 Goodreads (1.4K) - 2
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
★ 4.10 BLT Score (156.0K ratings)★ 3.77 Goodreads (156.0K) - 3
The Devil and Tom Walker
★ 3.72 BLT Score (3.0K ratings)★ 3.56 Goodreads (3.0K) - 4
- 5
H. P. Lovecraft's Book of the Supernatural
by Stephen Jones, Henry James, Washington Irving, Edgar Allan Poe, Rudyard Kipling, Bram Stoker, Robert Louis Stevenson, Guy de Maupassant, Ambrose Bierce, Arthur Conan Doyle, Davina Porter, Steven Crossley, Bronson Pinchot
★ 3.60 BLT Score (339 ratings)★ 3.68 Goodreads (339)