Olympia-2015

112. [TOLSTOY, Lev Nikolaevich.] BIRIUKOV, Pavel Ivanovich, editor. LevNikolaevich Tolstoi. Biografiia. Sostavil P. Biriukov po neizdannym materialam(Vospominaniia i pis’ma L. N. Tolstogo) [Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy. A Biography.Compiled by P. Biriukov from unpublished materials (Memoirs and letters of L. N.Tolstoy)]. Moscow, Pechkovsky, ‘Posrednik’, 1906[-8].Two vols, 8vo, pp. 477, [1], vii, [1]; xviii, 483, [1], with a total of forty plates ofillustrations; a very good copy in the original blue moiré cloth, lettered gilt (faded),blind embossed portrait of Tolstoy to front covers (nose scraped), spines worn andfaded. £1800First edition, rare, of the first authorised biography of Tolstoy (then aged 78), by hisfriend, secretary and disciple Pavel Biriukov (1860-1931), drawing on muchunpublished archival material and written in personal consultation with Tolstoyover a period of at least six years.113. TOLSTOY, Count Aleksei Konstantinovich. Smert’ Ioanna Groznago,tragediia v piati deistviiakh [The Death of Ivan the Terrible, a tragedy in fiveacts]. St Petersburg, Naval Ministry Press, 1866.8vo, pp. [iv], 176, complete with the half-title; first couple of leaves creased, somespotting and mild offsetting in places, light marginal waterstain to initial few leaves,but still a very good copy in Russian contemporary quarter calf, marbled papersides, cloth tips, rubbed, spine worn at foot, front free endpaper sometimeremoved. £2000First edition: the first in the great trilogy of plays by the foremost Russianhistorical dramatist. It was translated into English verse, ‘with the author’spermission’, in 1869.‘The Death of Ivan the Terrible is a tense and stagy play [in which] Tolstoi adroitlyuses various scenic devices to recapitalute the glory, the horror, and the ultimatedefeat of the awesome tsar’ (Terras, History).CAUGHT IN HIS ‘COUNTRY’S ORGY OF SPECULATION’114. TRAIN, Arthur. Paper profits. A novel of Wall Street. New York, HoraceLiveright, 1930.8vo, pp. [iv], 347, [1 blank]; leaf edges a little toned, elsea fine, fresh copy in the original publisher’s illustratedcloth, spine and upper board stamped in gilt, veryslightly rubbed, with the original Hynd dust-jacket invery good condition. £750First edition of Train’s novel set in the lead up to thestock market crash of 1929 that heralded the beginningof the Great Depression. The story follows LawrenceRand, a prosperous magazine editor, and his young wifeBetty, as they become caught up in the wild speculationin the years immediately preceding the crash. Lawrence