person
Count Dmitry Andreyevich Tolstoy
Count Tolstoy
also: гр. Толстой, Count D. A. Tolstoy
Russian statesman (1823-1889), Minister of the Interior from 1882 and concurrently President of the Imperial Academy of Sciences from 1882; cited here by Chekhov correcting his brother's mistaken belief that Yakov Grot held the Academy presidency. Distinct from the novelist Lev Tolstoy.
Reading notes
- To Al. P. Chekhov, 21 October 1887. Moscow. §16 The President of the Academy of Sciences is not Grot but Count Tolstoy
A factual correction to a mistaken claim, evidently made in Alexander's paper: Count Dmitry Tolstoy, the Minister of the Interior, held the ceremonial presidency of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, while the philologist Yakov Grot merely headed its literary/linguistic section. Chekhov needles his journalist brother for the error.
- To N. N. Obolonsky, 23 April 1889. Moscow. §6 Tolstoy is ill
"Tolstoy" here is NOT the novelist Lev (Leo) Nikolayevich Tolstoy -- do not link to that entity. Per the standard PSS editorial note, this refers to a newspaper report of the illness of Count Dmitry Andreyevich Tolstoy, then Russian Minister of Internal Affairs (and concurrently President of the Imperial Academy of Sciences), which explains why Obolonsky -- evidently connected to Petersburg official/medical circles -- is currently in the capital. D. A. Tolstoy in fact died only a few days after this letter, on 25 April 1889 (N.S. 7 May), which fits the report of his illness here.