TOLSTOÏ, Léon.

Lot 1244
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20000 - 30000 EUR
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Result : 12 006EUR
TOLSTOÏ, Léon.
O Golode [Famine]. Proofs corrected. No place or date, [Moscow, 1892]. In-folio (494 x 317 mm) of 27 ff.n.ch. mounted on tabs: modern red half-marocco, matching case (Loutrel). Precious corrected proofs from the Polemique article on the famine of 1891, banned from publication by order of Tsar Alexander III. It was originally intended for the journal Voprosy Filosofii i psikhologuii ("Questions of Philosophy and Psychology"). Government circles feared Tolstoy's "anarchist and socialist" influence on the peasants. The Minister of the Interior, Dournovo, advised the czar to have him locked up in a monastery. Alexander III refused: "I have no desire to make him a martyr and to arouse general indignation against me. Published in English in the Daily Telegraph in January 1892, the article was expanded and became a book that he had translated into French, in order to alert European opinion: La Famine (1893). Count Tolstoy apostle of Russian peasants and philanthropist: In the summer of 1891, a severe famine due to an exceptional drought decimated central Russia. Struck with horror by the river, he abandoned the book he was working on and left for the sinister regions during the winter, accompanied by his two eldest daughters and sons to organize popular canteens. In fact, it was not one winter but two years that he spent fighting against famine and misery (1891- 1893). Throwing himself into the action with his customary ardour and an astonishing practical sense, his crusade enabled him to send seeds, horses, wheat and cabbages by whole wagons. More than 200 canteens were thus opened. (Leon Tolstoi, B.N., 1960, No. 147). Very valuable document. The most important corrections by Tolstoi's hand are to be found on sheets 5, 16, 17 and 19. The others are by his wife and others - either his daughters or a secretary. Finally, there are pencil annotations, with the mention Levachov: perhaps reading notes by a third party for the purpose of censorship.
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