A Memorial Plaque to Vladimir Chertkov, Friend, Editor and Publisher of Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy

Many Tolstoys, for understandable reasons, do not care for Chertkov, the closest friend, confidant, fellow thinker and comrade-in-arms of Lev Nikolayevich.

To appreciate Chertkov's place in Tolstoy's life, it is enough to recall that their correspondence fills five volumes of Tolstoy's collected works.

Chertkov, if one may put it so, arrived at Tolstoy's views independently: even before making the count's acquaintance he had become an adherent of the ideas of helping the peasantry and of enlightenment among the poorest classes. The conduct of this scion of a privileged family close to the court was so conspicuous that it was promptly reported to the Emperor, and Alexander III ordered that the gentleman who had "gone simple" be placed under surveillance.

"If Chertkov did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him," Tolstoy wrote. They became friends at once, and for a very long time.

Chertkov was hounded and shadowed, his house was searched and his forbidden Tolstoyan texts confiscated; in the end he would publish them in England.