Leo Tolstoy | Three autograph draft letters, 1892, together with letters by Olga Novikoff

Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy

Three autograph draft letters and notes on one sheet, on the Russian famine and relief operations, together with a group of letters by Olga Novikoff, comprising:

i) to George Bainton, Coventry, in Russian, with revisions, 1 page

ii) to Mr Keeler, in Russian, with revisions, half a page

iii) to 'Mademoiselle', in French, heavily revised, half a page

all on a single octavo leaf, [probably from 1892]

[with:] Olga Novikoff, Russian propagandist, four letters in English on social matters, to Mr & Mrs Merrilees, 1914, with a signed receipt and two cuttings from letters

These letters relate to the Russian famine resulting from the drought of the summer of 1891 and the associated crop failures. Tolstoy was active in coordinating the relief efforts and establishing kitchens to feed the starving, but his condemnation of the Tsar and the Church in helping cause the famine led to his excommunication. Olga Novikoff, a Russian expatriate journalist, was active in London with the relief efforts.

PROVENANCE:

Christie's, London, 29 April 1981, lot 203