The Complete Works of Count A.K. Tolstoy in Four Volumes

Complete Works of Count A.K. Tolstoy in Four Volumes Count A.K. Tolstoy. St. Petersburg, Printing House of M.M. Stasyulevich, 1904 Here for sale only volumes 1 and 2 bound together. Volume 1. 1855-1865. Preface. Autobiographical essay. Dedication. - Poems, stories, dramas. - Epics, ballads, parables. - Songs, essays. - Crimean essays. - Translations. 1904. [XVI], 368 pp.; 1 sheet portrait. Volume 2. 1866-1875. Poems, stories, dramas. - Epics, ballads, parables. - Songs, essays. - Translations. - Alphabetical index of the first and second volumes. 1904. [4], 332 pp Copy in nice half-leather binding with gold stamping on the spine and front board. Spine slightly cracked at lower end. Interlan very clean. The frontispiece of the first volume is decorated with an engraved bust portrait of the author with his own facsimile signature at the bottom of the sheet. The portrait is laid with transparent protective tracing paper. Preface by Prince D.N. Tsertelev. An autobiographical essay in Russian and French. The book is dedicated to Her Imperial Majesty Empress Maria Alexandrovna. Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy (1817-1875) - Russian novelist, poet, playwright. He was born into a noble family. He spent his childhood in the Chernigov province on the estate of his uncle Aleksey Alekseevich Perovsky (known in literature under the pseudonym Anton Pogorelsky), who encouraged the boy's early literary interests. In 1834 he was enrolled in the Moscow archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, then was in the diplomatic service in Germany, in 1843 he received the court title of chamberlain. He traveled extensively throughout Russia and visited abroad. In the 1840s, he began working on the historical novel "Prince Silver", which he completed in 1861. During the same period, he wrote a number of ballads and lyric poems. In 1854, together with his cousins, the Zhemchuzhnikov brothers, he created the satirical literary mask of Kozma Prutkov and a collection of his works. During the Crimean War, A.K. Tolstoy enlisted in the military and was appointed aide-de-camp. However, lacking any particular passion for service, he resigned in 1861. The writer lived alternately at his estate near St. Petersburg, Pustynka, and at his mother's estate in the Chernigov region. From 1866 to 1870, he published a historical trilogy, including the tragedies "The Death of Ivan the Terrible," "Tsar Feodor Ioannovich," and "Tsar Boris," which became the pinnacle of his work. A worsening financial situation contributed to the development of his illness: the writer was plagued by asthma and terrible neuralgic headaches. On September 28, 1875, during another severe attack, A.K. Tolstoy made a mistake and overdosed on morphine, resulting in his death. Полное собрание сочинений Гр. А.К.Толстого в четырёх томах". Гр. А.К.Толстой. С.-Петербург, Типография М.М.Стасюлевича, 1904-1905гг.…