JOHN GARDINER CALKINS BRAINARD - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 02/07/1827 - HFSID 169479

JOHN GARDINER CALKINS BRAINARD
The early nineteenth-century poet sends letter of praise to author John Pierpont, signs name in black ink
Autograph letter signed: "J.G.C. Brainard" in black ink. 1 page, 8x7. Hartford, Connecticut. February 7, 1827. Addressed to Rev. John Pierpont, author of The Airs of Palestine. In full: "Sir, If any one but myself were the author of the versus to which you so kindly allude in the letter I received this morning I should use my Editorial discretion & perhaps withhold the name of the writer even though I had his permission to divulge it. But there are few who write versus of any sort without some lurking vanity, and what can more surely draw it forth than a favourable [sic] expression from the author of the "Airs of Palestine". Excuse this bluntness for if Editors must be acquainted with the classics they may be permitted a little familiarly with those who make them. Very respectfully". John Gardiner Calkins Brainard (1796-1828) was an American lawyer, editor and poet. Brainard attended Yale University, but his inattentiveness as a student makes it unclear if he had graduated or not, but Brainard still was taken up as a law student by his brother, and set up his own practice in Middletown, Connecticut. His apathy for his legal career led him to write poems, some published in the New Haven literary paper The Microscope. He went on to serve as editor of the Connecticut Mirror, which he was again not very good at due to his sensitive temperament, but he still published many of his own poems which were well received and established a literary reputation for him. Brainard's works include Occasional Pieces of Poetry (1824), and posthumously The literary remains of J.G.C. Brainard: with a sketch of his life (1832) after his early death from tuberculosis. Normal mailing folds. Toned. Creased throughout. Irregularly cut. Right edge frayed. Otherwise, fine condition.