The Knickerbocker Group was a collection of three men, Washington Irving

Washington Irving

Washington Irving was an American author, essayist, biographer and historian of the early 19th century. He was best known for his short stories "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle", both of which appear in his book The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. His historical works...

, James Fenimore Cooper

James Fenimore Cooper

James Fenimore Cooper was a prolific and popular American writer of the early 19th century. He is best remembered as a novelist who wrote numerous sea-stories and the historical novels known as the Leatherstocking Tales, featuring frontiersman Natty Bumppo...

, and William Cullen Bryant

William Cullen Bryant

William Cullen Bryant was an American romantic poet, journalist, and long-time editor of the New York Evening Post.-Youth and education:...

, who were American pioneers in the literary fields of general literature, novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

s, and poetry

Poetry

Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...

 and journalism

Journalism

Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...

, respectively. Other talented poets, playwright

Playwright

A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...

s, writers, novelists, journalists, and editor

Editing

Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...

s joined this writer's club, dubbed the "Knickerbocker Group" after Irving's Knickerbocker's History of New York and pen-name, "Diedrich Knickerbocker".

In addition to Irving, members of this group included William Cullen Bryant

William Cullen Bryant

William Cullen Bryant was an American romantic poet, journalist, and long-time editor of the New York Evening Post.-Youth and education:...

, James Kirke Paulding

James Kirke Paulding

James Kirke Paulding was an American writer and, for a time, the United States Secretary of the Navy.-Biography:...

, Fitz-Greene Halleck

Fitz-Greene Halleck

Fitz-Greene Halleck was an American poet notable for his satires and as one of the Knickerbocker Group. Born and reared in Guilford, Connecticut, he went to New York City at the age of 20, and lived and worked there for nearly four decades. He was sometimes called "the American Byron"...

, Joseph Rodman Drake

Joseph Rodman Drake

Joseph Rodman Drake was an early American poet.- Biography :Born in New York City, he was orphaned when young and entered a mercantile house. While still a child, he showed a talent for writing poems. He was educated at Columbia. In 1813 he began studying in a physician's office...

, Robert Charles Sands

Robert Charles Sands

Robert Charles Sands was an American writer and poet....

, Lydia Maria Child, Gulian Crommelin Verplanck

Gulian Crommelin Verplanck

Gulian Crommelin Verplanck was a New York politician and sometime man of letters.-Biography:Verplanck was born in Wall Street in New York City, the son of Congressman Daniel C. Verplanck. He graduated B.A. from Columbia College in 1801, then studied law with Josiah Ogden Hoffman and was admitted...

, and Nathaniel Parker Willis

Nathaniel Parker Willis

Nathaniel Parker Willis , also known as N. P. Willis, was an American author, poet and editor who worked with several notable American writers including Edgar Allan Poe and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. He became the highest-paid magazine writer of his day. For a time, he was the employer of former...

. Many were frequent contributors to the literary magazine

Literary magazine

A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry and essays along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letters...

 the The Knickerbocker

The Knickerbocker

The Knickerbocker, or New-York Monthly Magazine, was a literary magazine of New York City, founded by Charles Fenno Hoffman in 1833, and published until 1865 under various titles, including:...

, under editor Charles Fenno Hoffman

Charles Fenno Hoffman

Charles Fenno Hoffman was an American author, poet and editor associated with the Knickerbocker group in New York.-Biography:...

.