TOLSTOY LEO: (1828-1910) Russian writer, regarded as one of the greatest authors of all time. ...

TOLSTOY LEO: (1828-1910) Russian writer, regarded as one of the greatest authors of all time. A.L.S., L Tolstoy, in Cyrillic, three pages, 8vo, n.p. (Moscow?), 12^th February 1896, to Liubov Gurevich, in Cyrillic. Tolstoy writes following an incident in which a man visiting his correspondent had behaved inappropriately, stating, in part, 'You say you are frightened by boasting on his part, and defamation, and I deeply regret that this matter cannot be leaked and made public as it should be. People will only have sorrow for him, this poor, young vagabond, who, having acted with the lowest baseness, was sure to act nobly (I use the past tense because I am certain that even before leaving your apartment, his conscious had begun to torment him). This matter cannot be made public only because you don't want it and because it would be auto-sufficient and harmful to the dignity of your actions, the basis of which is humility' and continuing to refer to the differences in perception of such an event by the public depending on whether one is a woman or a man, 'because of the absurdity always inherent in our mores', further adding that he has shown his letter to Pavel Biruykov and concluding 'Just keep thinking and acting the same way and the joy in your soul will grow. I am very, very happy for you. May God help us to do his will'. A letter of good, intriguing content and with fine association. VG

Liubov Gurevich (1866-1940) Russian editor, translator, author and critic who has been described as 'Russia's most important woman literary journalist'.