Details
IRVING, Washington. Autograph letter signed ("Washington Irving") to Messrs. Camp & Perkins, Sunnyside, 20 September 1852. 2 pages, 4to, age-tones, small tape remnant on top edge of verso, with engraved portrait of Irving by M. J. Danforth.
A "RIP VAN WINKLE STOVE" DELIVERED TO THE IRVING HOME BY "SOME OF THE GOBLINS OF THE KAATSKILL MOUNTAINS"
A charming and very funny letter in response to the unsolicited gift of a stove honoring one of "the absurd creatures of my brain.": "Your letter of the 14th instant," Irving writes, "dispels the mystery of the Rip Van Winkle stove, which made its appearance some days since to the great wonder and perplexity of my household, and the misgivings of the womankind in my kitchen who feared it might have been spirited hither by some of the goblins of the KaatsKill mountains. Your letter relieves us from all doubt of its being an honest stove made by modest hand, and that may be safely used without fear of goblin trick; and lets me know to whom I am obliged for so very quaint and complimentary a present. I cannot but feel highly flattered that Mrs. Judge Foote should deem the absurd creatures of my brain worthy of being illustrated by her plastic talent and that you gentlemen should give them a chance for perpetuity beyond the perishable medium of ink and paper; by casting them in iron and giving them a fireside currency." (2)
A "RIP VAN WINKLE STOVE" DELIVERED TO THE IRVING HOME BY "SOME OF THE GOBLINS OF THE KAATSKILL MOUNTAINS"
A charming and very funny letter in response to the unsolicited gift of a stove honoring one of "the absurd creatures of my brain.": "Your letter of the 14th instant," Irving writes, "dispels the mystery of the Rip Van Winkle stove, which made its appearance some days since to the great wonder and perplexity of my household, and the misgivings of the womankind in my kitchen who feared it might have been spirited hither by some of the goblins of the KaatsKill mountains. Your letter relieves us from all doubt of its being an honest stove made by modest hand, and that may be safely used without fear of goblin trick; and lets me know to whom I am obliged for so very quaint and complimentary a present. I cannot but feel highly flattered that Mrs. Judge Foote should deem the absurd creatures of my brain worthy of being illustrated by her plastic talent and that you gentlemen should give them a chance for perpetuity beyond the perishable medium of ink and paper; by casting them in iron and giving them a fireside currency." (2)
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