Autograph manuscript, signed on the inside rear wrapper, a sermon on the birth of Christ

24pp., written in a neat hand with some cross outs and corrections. 8vo. John Blair Linn (1777-1804) was an American clergyman and poet, and close associate of Charles Brockden Brown. After college, Linn studied law in the office of Alexander Hamilton, a friend of his father's, but did not take to it. After abandoning the law, he studied theology with Dirck Romeyn at Union College, receiving an MA in 1797. He was ordained a Presbyterian clergyman in 1798 and became assistant pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia on June 13, 1799. Shortly after his graduation from college, Linn wrote a play titled Bourville Castle, or the Gallic Maidens. The play premiered at John Street Theatre on January 16, 1797, but was not successful. He published five books of poetry and three prose works. He died of tuberculosis in Philadelphia on August 30, 1804. Contemporary wrappers, manuscript title on the upper wrapper 24pp., written in a neat hand with some cross outs and corrections. 8vo.