A Book of the Hudson. Collected from the Various Works of Diedrich Knickerbocker.
New York: G. P. Putnam, 1849. Hardcover. An 1849 compilation of stories written by Washington Irving about the Hudson River, which includes "Wolfert Webber", a pirate treasure story which inspired both Robert Louis Stevenson and Edgar Allen Poe, and which is credited with establishing the modern image of the pirate as a romantic figure.
The stories included here are: Communipaw, Guests from Gibbet Island, Peter Stuyvesant's Voyage up the Hudson, The Chronicle of Bearn island, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Dolph Heyliger, Rip Van Winkle, and Wolfert Webber.
'A Book of the Hudson' was first published at 213 pages; shortly thereafter it was expanded to include "Wolfert Webber", in which a Dutch settler becomes obsessed with finding buried treasure hidden by the pirate Capt. William Kidd. While on his deathbed, having found nothing, the protagonist learns that his land is to be traversed by a public highway and that he is worth a fortune.
The pirate stories in this work directly influenced Stevenson's “Treasure Island" and Edgar Allan Poe's “The Gold Bug”.
An important Irving work. 12mo, viii, 283 pp, with sepia lithograph on the half title page, and 3 views of the Hudson River. Three quarter dark blue morocco & marbled boards. Fine morocco binding. A far scarcer work than the 215 page edition. BAL 10170. OCLC: 12036146. Very good condition. Item #26225
Price: $450.00