Russian novelist and moral philosopher who wrote the great novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina. He advocated a classless, self-sufficient society that prized love and charity above economics. Practicing his beliefs, the aristocrat renounced his worldly possessions to live virtually penniless among the peasants he loved, and in 1910, seeking to get closer to God, he abandoned his home and family. Leaving home secretly and accompanied only by his physician and a daughter, he died in a remote railway station only a few days later of pneumonia. Marvelous vintage 4.25 x 6.25 cabinet photo by Scherer and Nabholz of Moscow, depicting Tolstoy in simple peasant garb, signed and inscribed in fountain pen under his image, in Russian, “To Mustapha Nuri, Lev Tolstoy, 26 May, 1902.” Neatly trimmed top edge and small stain to extreme lower left corner, otherwise fine condition. Excellent example, as nice as you will find. COA John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and R&R COA.
