LATE COUNT TOLSTOY.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 991, 5 December 1910, Page 7

LATE COUNT TOLSTOY.

an executor objected to. ;By Telegraph—Press Association—CoDrright. i St. Potersburg, December 2. i 2 1 ? 11 ®? II 6 being taken to prevent ; ifr"i ic * ler ''™ffi from acting as Count J lolstoy's literary 'executor, on the ■ ?i rou ?r ' 1G IS not connected with tlio Count s family; > IMPORTANCE OP THE DISPUTE. ' - Mr. Vladimir Tchertkoff is described by Mr. Aylmer Maude in his "Life of Tolstoy as the late Count's closest personal mend, and :,the warmest, propagandist of his ,'opinions. To lira .Tolstoy entrusted the management of His public affairs, . such as the issuing of liis prohibited . books. M. Tchertkoff was "allowed to go ' f, broad -wtually esiled—in 1896, and he - then settled in England, where he busied , himself ill translating and publishing ( some of ..Tolstoy's works, and became the editor of the Free Age Press, an organisation for disseminating Tolstoyan 'literaI ture. He Returned to Russia in 1908, and W A ll '. 1T . 6 E ? ar Tolstoy, but was soon afterwards-banished from the Province of J.ou!a. Phis was apparently done 'to keep him away from his friend,, as he was allowed to lire wherever else lie liked. lUr. Maude found it extremely difficult to work with JI. Tchertkoff in arranging the Doukhobor migration. "AYithin- the courso of a- very few months wo found ' mm ardently collecting money; refusing to handle money; desiring to obtain I money, for 'Resurrection/ and neglecting . to account for tho large sums that passed through his hands. No one doubted liis integrity, ardour, or ability; what one • aouuteu was :liis common-senec, and the validity of his opinions." ,Yet Mr. Maude telt, in a ,way, grateful to him for the thoroughness with which he impressed upon mo the unvorkability of the Tolstoyan methods of doing tusine^e." \ ery different were tlie methods of the Countess . lolstoy, , who, from 1882 onwards, was. the chief publisher of, her , 'husbands works in Russia. Tolstoy , himself declined to regard his books as r property, and as the lfi titled estates* were . also being .neglected, the Countess went - into tho publishing business as a means of overcoming the financial' difficulties liL <. 0 succeeded. In 1891 Tolstoy wrote to the papers announcing > that he gave free permission to all who desired to do so to publish ■ ! n I{ V s fl a or. abroad, in Russian or in a translation, all tho works ho 'had written ■ einco 1881, and all be might issue there- > after. The Countess retained the copyL right oi all his works antecedent to' and including Anna Karenina." Publishers might scramble as they pleased for the rest, but the' Countess, of course, had the advantage of knowing beforehand what was coming, and she made it a practice -to publish the works herself in reliable and reasonably cheap editions. Other publishers, who might otherwise have rushed books upon the market -without _ proper care, .realised that tho Countess,s action left them small hope of gain, and thus the harm that might have W done by the dissemination of unworthy versions was not-so' great as might have been expected. Tho Countess, therefore continued to bo tho principal Russia-n publisher of all but tho prohibited books Cf tie Position has always been _ that Tolstoy's works, like any other Russian books (Russia not having joined ' 0 'International Copyright Convention), can be taken freoly by foreign translators, who may, of course, protect their own versions, under ' the copyright laws of . their respective countries. These condi- ( tions tiro to blame for the unsatisfactory character.of many of tlio translations. It is apparent Hiat theso conditions are likely to bo accentuated if If. Tchertkoff acts as Toistoy s literary executor, but tVo t as as Possible if tho duties of that position ar© carried out according to the Irishes of tho Countess lhe dispute indicated in tho abovo cablo51am is, therefore—and more especially in view of tho reported discovery of works ot high literary value among tho late' authors papers—a matter of considerable importance to literature. >