The Works of Leo Tolstoy. Including: War and Peace, Anna Karenina, Resurrection.

TOLSTOY, Leo.

Item Number: 117008

Moscow: I.N. Kushnerev, 1893-98.

Rare complete set in Russian of the works of Leo Tolstoy, Prince Johan’s copy. Octavo, 14 volumes, twelve portrait frontispieces and six plates, bound in three quarters morocco with each binding signed by Nikolai Trukhachev, principal binder for the Konstantinovich family from 1901 to 1915, gilt titles to the spine, raised bands, marbled endpapers. Prince Johan, was the eldest son of Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich of Russia by his wife, Yelizaveta Mavrikievna, née Princess Elisabeth of Saxe-Altenburg. He was described by contemporaries as a gentle, religious person, nicknamed “Ioannchik” by his relatives. He was born as a Grand Duke of Russia with the style Imperial Highness, but at the age of 9 days, a Ukaz of his cousin Emperor Alexander III of Russia stripped him of that title, as the Ukaz amended the House Law by limiting the grand-ducal title to grandsons of a reigning emperor. As a result, he received the title Prince of the Imperial Blood (Prince of Russia) with the style Highness. He married Princess Helen of Serbia on 2 September 1911, and Helen took the name Princess Yelena Petrovna of Russia. They had a son, Prince Vsevolod Ivanovich (20 January 1914 – 18 June 1973), and a daughter, Princess Yekaterina Ivanovna (12 July 1915 – 13 March 2007), who was the last member of the Imperial Family to be born before the fall of the dynasty, and was ultimately to become the last surviving uncontested dynasty of the Imperial House of Russia. Academy for the History of Material Culture (stamps, press-mark O.20.801 ) Printed in Russia (small import stamp on each title). From the library of  Eden Martin, a prominent American collector. Most rare and desirable, especially with noted provenance.

Born to an aristocratic Russian family in 1828, Leo Tolstoy is best known for the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, often cited as pinnacles of realist fiction. He first achieved literary acclaim in his twenties with his semi-autobiographical trilogy, Childhood, Boyhood, and Youth (1852–1856), and Sevastopol Sketches, based upon his experiences in the Crimean War.