Rip Van Winkle Driven Away – illustration circa 1920

In the story by Washington Irving, the shiftless Rip Van Winkle is driven from his home by his wife who has reached the limit of her patience with the lazy fellow.

Irving paints a sympathetic picture of Rip who spends his days quaffing good Dutch beer and smoking his pipe in amiable company, instead of tending to his business or his family.

I suspect that there is a series of postcards illustrating Rip’s further adventures of the long sleep and his re-awakening to a very different world.

This is the only postcard illustration that I have found thus far.

In it, the young Rip appears put upon, rather than negligent.

I hope to find more scenes from Irving’s tale.

This postcard was published, appropriately, in the Hudson Valley by J. Ruben, a printer in Newburgh, NY.