TOLSTOY, COUNT LEO NIKOLAEVICH. 1828-1910.


Voina i mir. [War and Peace]. Moscow: T. Ris, 1868-1869. 6 parts in 3 volumes. 8vo (258 x 135 mm). Map in vol 2, p 239. Contemporary quarter black morocco, patterned paper boards, original printed wrappers for parts 2, 4, and 6 bound in, without half-title and title for part 2. Repair to hinges, rubbing to covers, internal foxing and minor soiling, a few repaired tears.Provenance: Library of G. Shapovalov (stamps); L.C. Pocock (inscriptions).FIRST COMPLETE EDITION, AND THE FIRST UNDER THIS TITLE OF ONE OF THE GREATEST NOVELS OF THE 19TH-CENTURY, first printings of the first five parts (part 3 paginated 227 for 127, and 265 for 255; and part 4 with 153 instead of 253; front wrapper of Part 6 states "Second Edition"). Often noted as the "greatest novel ever written," War and Peace has been praised by such diverse authors as Dostoevsky, Turgenev, Flaubert, Chekhov, Joyce and Hemingway. Its influence on world literature is inestimable. The first two parts were first issued in 1866 as Tysyacha vosemsot pyatyi god [1805], after appearing in 1865-1866 in the journal Russkii vestnik. The original edition of the complete novel was then revised by the author and first issued at his own expense by printer T. Ris under the title Voina i mir in 1868-1869. When purchasers had the complete set bound together, wrappers, half-titles and titles pages were often dropped. Not surprisingly some mixed sets resulted. Kilgour 1196.