Ornate Set of the Complete Works of Count Tolstoy

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Ornate Set of the Complete Works of Count Tolstoy

About the Item

An ornate set of the great Russian master's prose writing from the library of Hollywood star Marion Davies. Twenty four volumes. Extra Illustrated copy of one of Dana Estes’s Grand de Luxe Edition, in a fabulous morocco binding executed c1920 by Stikeman & Co., New York. Printed on handmade paper, each volume with water colour frontispiece. Full crimson levant morocco with Art Nouveau design with a distinct ‘Jugendstil’ bent, gilt backs with raised bands, border on sides ornamented with small floral morocco onlays and gilt floral designs; doublures of blue levant morocco, fly-leaves of blue watered silk, top edge of the pages gilt, others untrimmed. Titlepages printed in red and black. An original water colour featuring a character or scene from the novel inserted as frontispieces, signed by PAL, with clear tissue guards. Edges of spines on some volumes a touch rubbed and spines rather dulled, but ornaments unspoilt and bright. Hinges tender on several volumes. Among the works included are: War and Peace, Anna Karenina, The Four Gospels, The Resurrection, My Religion, My Confessions. Provenance: This attractive set was sold by Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, in 1945 for $360 as Lot 372 in the The Splendid Library of Marion Davies. Removed from Her Beach House at 415 Ocean Front, Santa Monica, Calif. Public Auction Sale By Her Order December 3 and 4. The house was built in 1928, for Marion Davies (1897-1961), the mistress of media mogul William Randolph Hearst. She bought five acres right on Santa Monica Beach and employed Hollywood set designer William Flannery to build her a beach villa with a guest house, staff quarters and two further houses. For twenty years, it was a honeypot for movie stars and was known as, ‘The Versailles of Hollywood’. After the second World War it became an hotel and then a beach club before being demolished except for one guest wing.

Dimensions:
Height: 9.45 in (24 cm)Width: 6.3 in (16 cm)Depth: 55.12 in (140 cm)
Sold As:
Set of 24
Materials and Techniques:
Paper
Place of Origin:
United States
Period:
Early 20th Century
Date of Manufacture:
1904
Condition:
Wear consistent with age and use.
Seller Location:
London, GB
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU6283227351722