[Illustration: WILLIAM THE TESTY.] Van Twiller Edition =Knickerbocker’s History of New York= =By= =Washington Irving= =With Illustrations= =by= =Edward W. Kemble= =Vol I.= G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS NEW YORK LONDON 27 West Twenty-third St. 24 Bedford Street, Strand =The Knickerbocker Press= 1894 COPYRIGHT, 1893 BY G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS Electrotyped, Printed and Bound by The Knickerbocker Press, New York G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS =A History of New York= =From the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty. Containing, among Many Surprising and Curious Matters, the Unutterable Ponderings of Walter the Doubter, the Disastrous Projects of William the Testy, and the Chivalric Achievements of Peter the Headstrong; the Three Dutch Governors of New Amsterdam, being the Only Authentic History of the Times that Ever Hath Been or Ever Will Be Published= =by= =Diedrich Knickerbocker= =De waarheid die in duister lag, Die komt mit klaarheid aan den dag= [Illustration: Wall-mounted pendulum clock centered within a decorative border] =Contents.= PAGE ORIGINAL ADVERTISEMENTS xv THE AUTHOR’S APOLOGY 1 ACCOUNT OF THE AUTHOR 7 ADDRESS TO THE PUBLIC 23 BOOK I. CONTAINING DIVERS INGENIOUS THEORIES AND PHILOSOPHIC SPECULATIONS, CONCERNING THE CREATION AND POPULATION OF THE WORLD, AS CONNECTED WITH THE HISTORY OF NEW YORK.