Kozma Petrovich Prutkov is a fictional author invented by Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy (1817-1875) and his cousins, the brothers Alexei Zhemchuzhnikov (1821-1908), Vladimir Zhemchuzhnikov (1830-1884) and Alexander Zhemchuzhnikov (1826-1896), during the later part of the rule (1825-1855) of Emperor Nicholas I of Russia.