![]() ![]() His family’s merchant business in New York City had been severely damaged by the War of 1812, and they were no longer able to support his literary career. Irving first came to southern Spain in 1826. ![]() ![]() Pictured below, both books are a unique look at 19th-century interest in orientalist design. Known as The Alhambra and The Conquest of Granada these books remained so widely read that 30 years after Irving’s death they were re-released in revised editions with cover designs by the well-known female decorative artist Alice C. Two works that came out of Irving’s foreign adventures were histories of medieval Spain during the period when modern day Andalucia was controlled by the Nasrids, the Moorish Muslim Emirate of Granada. Less well known are some of Irving’s works of history or his time spent in Europe as part of the diplomatic corps. Irving (b.1783-d.1859) was one of the first writers from the newly formed United States to be recognized across Europe and he set the standard for a uniquely American form of fiction writing. Most Americans are familiar with the writer and historian Washington Irving and his well-known legends of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle. ![]() Morse (New York: Putnam, 1892) Helen Farr Sloan Library & Archives. Above: The Alhambra by Washington Irving, cover design by Alice C. ![]()
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