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. Unsigned copy of a telegram, in French, on a 5.25 x 7 sheet, written in Tolstoy's hand, sending good wishes, six total lines in his hand, including the address and greeting. In very good condition, with several horizontal creases, light overall toning, some ink brushing across one line of text and two lines of pencil notations to bottom of page. COA John Reznikoff/University Archives and RRAuction COA.
