THE HUMORISTS, A MEDLEY
Part novel, part collection of sketches, this book was written while was Irving was still living in England in 1821. The collection contains a series of character sketches in the location of Bracebridge Hall, an English manor, featuring numerous individual plots. The tales were inspired by Irving’s visit to Aston Hall, near Birmingham.
Irving and his publisher John Murray had been eager to follow up on the success of The Sketch Book, and the author spent much of 1821 travelling in Europe in search of new material, widely reading Dutch and German folk tales. Depressed by the death of his brother William, Irving worked slowly, finally delivering the completed manuscript of Bracebridge Hall to Murray in March 1822. The format of the work was similar to that of The Sketch Book, with Irving, as Crayon, narrating a series of more than fifty loosely connected short stories and essays. Although some reviewers thought the work to be a lesser imitation of The Sketch Book, it was well-received by readers and critics.