TOLSTOY, Alexei. Imperial Majesty
TOLSTOY, Alexei. Imperial Majesty. Trans. from the Russian by H. Chrouschoff Matheson. London: Elkin Mathews and Marrot. 1932. 8vo. First British edition. Publisher’s blue cloth lettered in black to the spine, in the dust jacket signed indistinctly. A very good copy overall, backstrip faded, corners gently bumped, the binding tight and square. Some foxing to the textblock edges seeping into prelims and the first few leaves, often fine. Ink previous owner signature to front endpaper. The dust jacket unclipped (8s 6d net) with 1/- reduced price sticker to spine. Several mostly very small nicks and closed tears, largest to top edge, some spots to the white sections of the jacket, with small adhesive repair to spine foot. Nevertheless presentable.
An intriguing and certainly odd volume, the first of just a few volumes of Tolstoy’s works to be translated into English—his most famous being The Road to Calvary which portrays the 1917 revolutions. Tolstoy was a relative to both Ivan Turgenev and Leo Tolstoy, albeit distantly, and lived a luxurious, courtly life both pre-Revolution and during the Bolshevik and Stalinist regimes. The historical novel here depicts the early days of Peter the Great amid the emergence of a Europe-conscious Russia. In line with party directives and contemporary historiography, Peter the Great is deemed a war-mongering tyrant who embittered every rank of society—from court life to peasant life. A play appeared originally, but was panned after Stalin left the theatre early. Tolstoy was said to have panned the idea of a novel or larger body of work surrounding Peter the Great—he had spent almost two decades studying his life. However, a note from Stalin determined that he continue on the basis he render Peter the Great more heroic, and this novel which appeared in English five years later is the result. Uncommon.
TOLSTOY, Alexei. Imperial Majesty. Trans. from the Russian by H. Chrouschoff Matheson. London: Elkin Mathews and Marrot. 1932. 8vo. First British edition. Publisher’s blue cloth lettered in black to the spine, in the dust jacket signed indistinctly. A very good copy overall, backstrip faded, corners gently bumped, the binding tight and square. Some foxing to the textblock edges seeping into prelims and the first few leaves, often fine. Ink previous owner signature to front endpaper. The dust jacket unclipped (8s 6d net) with 1/- reduced price sticker to spine. Several mostly very small nicks and closed tears, largest to top edge, some spots to the white sections of the jacket, with small adhesive repair to spine foot. Nevertheless presentable.
An intriguing and certainly odd volume, the first of just a few volumes of Tolstoy’s works to be translated into English—his most famous being The Road to Calvary which portrays the 1917 revolutions. Tolstoy was a relative to both Ivan Turgenev and Leo Tolstoy, albeit distantly, and lived a luxurious, courtly life both pre-Revolution and during the Bolshevik and Stalinist regimes. The historical novel here depicts the early days of Peter the Great amid the emergence of a Europe-conscious Russia. In line with party directives and contemporary historiography, Peter the Great is deemed a war-mongering tyrant who embittered every rank of society—from court life to peasant life. A play appeared originally, but was panned after Stalin left the theatre early. Tolstoy was said to have panned the idea of a novel or larger body of work surrounding Peter the Great—he had spent almost two decades studying his life. However, a note from Stalin determined that he continue on the basis he render Peter the Great more heroic, and this novel which appeared in English five years later is the result. Uncommon.
TOLSTOY, Alexei. Imperial Majesty. Trans. from the Russian by H. Chrouschoff Matheson. London: Elkin Mathews and Marrot. 1932. 8vo. First British edition. Publisher’s blue cloth lettered in black to the spine, in the dust jacket signed indistinctly. A very good copy overall, backstrip faded, corners gently bumped, the binding tight and square. Some foxing to the textblock edges seeping into prelims and the first few leaves, often fine. Ink previous owner signature to front endpaper. The dust jacket unclipped (8s 6d net) with 1/- reduced price sticker to spine. Several mostly very small nicks and closed tears, largest to top edge, some spots to the white sections of the jacket, with small adhesive repair to spine foot. Nevertheless presentable.
An intriguing and certainly odd volume, the first of just a few volumes of Tolstoy’s works to be translated into English—his most famous being The Road to Calvary which portrays the 1917 revolutions. Tolstoy was a relative to both Ivan Turgenev and Leo Tolstoy, albeit distantly, and lived a luxurious, courtly life both pre-Revolution and during the Bolshevik and Stalinist regimes. The historical novel here depicts the early days of Peter the Great amid the emergence of a Europe-conscious Russia. In line with party directives and contemporary historiography, Peter the Great is deemed a war-mongering tyrant who embittered every rank of society—from court life to peasant life. A play appeared originally, but was panned after Stalin left the theatre early. Tolstoy was said to have panned the idea of a novel or larger body of work surrounding Peter the Great—he had spent almost two decades studying his life. However, a note from Stalin determined that he continue on the basis he render Peter the Great more heroic, and this novel which appeared in English five years later is the result. Uncommon.