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. Vintage matte-finish 5.75 x 3.25 photo of Tolstoy looking almost beatific, signed and inscribed in fountain pen “Dear Florence! I hope you shall have a nice time at Christmas! Yours, Tolstoy.” Actual image size is 1.75 x 2.5. In fine condition, with light silvering to the darker areas of the photo, scattered small areas of trivial soiling, the most minor of edge wear. COA John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and R&R COA.
