Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin

Reading notes

• To P. G. Rozanov, 2 April 1885. Moscow. §8 your effervescence

  A callback nickname for Leikin: in an earlier letter (18 February 1885) Chekhov addresses Leikin's "effervescent thoughts," and here revives the joke as a mock-formal salutation, part of the running badinage of their correspondence.

• To Al. P. Chekhov, 3 February 1886. Moscow. §5 our editor-in-chief may at least be called her uncle

  Chekhov calls Leikin a liar by playing on the scriptural description of the devil as "the father of lies" (John 8:44) -- mock-theological escalation aimed at Leikin's broken promises about a pay raise for Alexander.

• To Al. P. Chekhov, 3 February 1886. Moscow. §5 he promised you a raise from the 1st of January

  Refers to a pay increase Leikin had promised Alexander for his contributions, allegedly made "in front of witnesses" -- one of several broken promises from Leikin that Chekhov catalogues in this section to reassure Alexander he is not alone in being misled.

• To Al. P. Chekhov, 3 February 1886. Moscow. §6 reworked in my presence by Leikin

  Chekhov corrects Alexander's misplaced suspicion of Bilibin: it was Leikin, as editor, who cut and altered Alexander's story, not Bilibin, who Chekhov insists never touched his brother's work.

• To Al. P. Chekhov, 3 February 1886. Moscow. §6 seizes hold of the calf with his teeth

  A folk idiom for someone who clings ferociously to money or advantage -- Chekhov's image for Leikin's own tightfistedness in contrast to the meekness he expects from his underpaid contributors.

• To F. O. Shekhtel, 8–9 February 1886. Moscow. §6 Published by the editorial staff of the journal 'Oskolki'

  Leikin, as editor of Oskolki, wanted the vignette's imprint line to credit the journal's editorial office as publisher of the book -- standard practice for tying a contributor's book to the sponsoring periodical, and a request Chekhov agrees is reasonable to honor.

• To V. V. Bilibin, 28 February 1886. Moscow. §6 Appreciate it!

  Chekhov is mocking Leikin's habit, well attested elsewhere in this correspondence, of dating his letters down to the hour to advertise his own overwork and dedication as an editor -- imitating the gesture here for two lines only, purely as a joke at Leikin's expense.

• To V. V. Bilibin, 28 February 1886. Moscow. §17 he continues to be popular still

  Chekhov's blunt, two-sided assessment -- Leikin's own fiction has lost the provinces' interest even as his editorial brand-name value for Oskolki remains real -- is exactly the kind of candid judgment Bilibin, Leikin, and Suvorin are each independently soliciting from Chekhov in this same passage, a pattern he complains is wearing him out.

• To V. V. Bilibin, 11 March 1886. Moscow. §5 10 rubles

  Chekhov declines a raise at Fragments out of concern for editor Nikolai Leikin's budget, reasoning that if Leikin has to squeeze out extra comic material to cover Bilibin's 10-ruble increase, an equivalent raise for Chekhov himself would demand still more unpaid labor from the overworked editor -- a joke that is also a real economic observation about the magazine's thin margins.

• To I. P. Chekhov, 28 April 1886. Petersburg. §6 half a desyatina of land

  A desyatina was a pre-revolutionary Russian unit of land area equal to roughly 2.7 acres (1.09 hectares); Chekhov's ironic quotation marks around "estate" (imenie) mock the modesty of Leikin's half-desyatina dacha plot outside Petersburg, playing up its grandiosity as a country "estate."

• To M. V. Kiseleva, 29 October 1886. Moscow. §6 old literary dogs

  A self-deprecating, half-affectionate joke: Chekhov casts himself and fellow minor-press editor Nikolai Leikin as grizzled hacks ("dogs") of the trade, judging a newcomer's work by an informal, half-serious editorial consensus rather than any official process.

• To Al. P. Chekhov, 5 January 1883. Moscow. §5 Leikin

  Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin, editor of "Oskolki" and Chekhov's first major editor; Chekhov is enclosing a letter recommending Alexander to him.

• To N. A. Leikin, 12 January 1883. Moscow. §4 Nikolai Alexandrovich

  Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin, editor and publisher of the Petersburg humor weekly Oskolki, for which Chekhov had begun writing under the byline "Antosha Chekhonte." Leikin ran a tight editorial shop with firm rules on length and turnaround, and this letter is Chekhov's formal petition against his 100-line ceiling.

• To Al. P. Chekhov and A. I. Khrushcheva-Sokolnikova, 3–6 February 1883. Moscow. §3 Leikin

  Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin, editor of "Oskolki" and Chekhov's principal editor in this period, praised here for his prompt and reliable payment.

• To Al. P. Chekhov, February 1883. Moscow. §14 Leikin

  Nikolai Leikin, editor of "Oskolki," whose personal confirmation of Alexander's subscription Anton says he has forwarded.

• To N. A. Leikin, 1883. Moscow. §3 Nikolai Alexandrovich

  Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin, editor of the St. Petersburg humor weekly Oskolki ("Splinters") and Chekhov's first major editor, who paid the young writer by the line for comic sketches. Addressee of this letter.

• To Al. P. Chekhov, 17–18 April 1883. Moscow. §2 Leikin

  Nikolai Leikin, editor of the Petersburg humor weekly Oskolki, to whom Chekhov was a regular contributor and through whom he tries to place Alexander's work.

• To N. A. Leikin, 1883. Moscow. §3 Nikolai Alexandrovich

  Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin, editor of the St. Petersburg humor weekly Oskolki and Chekhov's first major editor; the addressee of this letter.

• To Al. P. Chekhov, 13 May 1883. Moscow. §6 Leikin

  Nikolai Leikin, editor of Oskolki and one of Chekhov's most important early editors, mentioned here relaying his difficulty placing Alexander's story because he could not make sense of its ending.

• To N. A. Leikin, 26 May 1883. Voskresensk. §4 Nikolai Alexandrovich

  Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin, editor of the St. Petersburg humor weekly Oskolki and Chekhov's principal editor in these early years; the addressee of this letter.

• To N. A. Leikin, 4 June 1883. Voskresensk. §3 Nikolai Alexandrovich

  Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin, editor of the St. Petersburg humor weekly Oskolki and Chekhov's principal editor in these early years; the addressee of this letter.

• To N. A. Leikin, 25 June 1883. Moscow. §3 Nikolai Alexandrovich

  Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin, editor of the St. Petersburg humor weekly Oskolki and Chekhov's principal editor in these early years; the addressee of this letter, here formally offering him the Moscow-notes column.

• To N. A. Leikin, 27 June 1883. Voskresensk. §3 Nikolai Alexandrovich

  Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin, editor of the St. Petersburg humor weekly Oskolki and Chekhov's first major editor, who had commissioned him to write the "Moscow notes" feuilleton column discussed throughout this letter.

• To N. A. Leikin, 3 August 1883. Moscow. §3 Nikolai Alexandrovich

  Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin, editor of the St. Petersburg humor weekly Oskolki and Chekhov's principal editor in these early years; the addressee of this letter.

• To N. A. Leikin, 6 August 1883. Moscow. §4 Nikolai Alexandrovich

  Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin, editor of the St. Petersburg humor weekly Oskolki and Chekhov's first major editor in these years.

• To N. A. Leikin, 11 August 1883. Moscow. §3 Nikolai Alexandrovich

  Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin, editor of the St. Petersburg humor weekly Oskolki ("Splinters") and Chekhov's first major editor in these years.

• To N. A. Leikin, 19 September 1883. Moscow. §4 Nikolai Alexandrovich

  Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin, editor of the St. Petersburg humor weekly Oskolki, Chekhov's principal editor and correspondent in these years.

• To Al. P. Chekhov, 15–28 October 1883. Moscow. §7 N. A. Leikin

  Editor of the St. Petersburg humor weekly Oskolki and Chekhov's principal editor in these years, visiting Moscow and anxious about Alexander's silence.

• To N. A. Leikin, 25 December 1883. Moscow. §4 Nikolai Alexandrovich

  Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin, editor of the St. Petersburg humor weekly Oskolki and Chekhov's principal editor in these years; the letter's addressee.

• To N. A. Leikin, 31 December 1883. Moscow. §4 Nikolai Alexandrovich

  Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin, editor of the St. Petersburg humor weekly Oskolki and Chekhov's principal editor in this period.

• To N. A. Leikin, 25 November 1884. Moscow. §3 Dear Sir

  The formal Russian salutation "Уважаемый" ("Respected/Esteemed") addressed to Nikolai Leikin, editor of the St. Petersburg humor weekly Oskolki, for whom Chekhov was a regular contributor and correspondent.

• To N. A. Leikin, 26 November 1884. Moscow. §4 Nikolai Alexandrovich

  Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin, editor of the St. Petersburg humor weekly Oskolki and Chekhov's principal editor at this period; the letter's addressee throughout.

• To N. A. Leikin, 10 December 1884. Moscow. §8 pieniądze

  Chekhov jokingly Polonizes the Russian word for 'money' (деньги) as 'пнёнзы' (from Polish pieniądze), a private joke about his overdue fee from Leikin, glossed by the translation footnote in the text itself.

• To N. A. Leikin, 23 December 1884. Moscow. §4 Nikolai Alexandrovich

  Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin, editor of the Petersburg humor weekly Oskolki ("Splinters") and Chekhov's principal editor at this period; the letter's whole business is reporting to and asking for money from him.

• To Al. P. Chekhov, 8 January 1887. Moscow. §11 Leikin is a nail

  "Гвоздик" (literally "a little nail") is a colloquial dig meaning someone sharp, prickly, or hard to deal with -- Chekhov's affectionately exasperated shorthand for his demanding first editor, Nikolai Leikin.

• To N. A. Leikin, 12 January 1887. Moscow. §3 Nikolai Alexandrovich

  Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin, editor of the St. Petersburg humor weekly Oskolki ("Fragments") and Chekhov's first major editor, addressed here by name and patronymic.

• To Al. P. Chekhov, 17 January 1887. Moscow. §6 Leikin

  Nikolai Leikin, editor of the Petersburg humor weekly Oskolki and Chekhov's first major editor, whose demanding letters about subscription numbers and copy deadlines Chekhov found increasingly wearisome by this point in their relationship.

• To A. S. Lazarev, 23 January 1887. Moscow. §3 Leikin is angry with you

  Nikolai Leikin, editor of the Petersburg comic weekly Oskolki ("Splinters"), for which both Chekhov and Lazarev wrote; his displeasure with contributors was a running theme in Chekhov's letters of this period.

• To N. A. Leikin, 26 January 1887. Moscow. §4 Nikolai Alexandrovich!

  Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin, editor of the Petersburg comic weekly Oskolki ("Fragments") and, at this stage of Chekhov's career, his principal patron and most demanding editor in the humor press.

• To Al. P. Chekhov, 22–23 February 1887. Moscow. §14 Obey Leikin.

  Nikolai Leikin, editor of Oskolki and Chekhov's early mentor-editor; the instruction is a parting jab reinforcing the letter's running theme that Alexander should attend properly to his editorial superiors and obligations.

• To the Chekhovs, 10 March 1887. Petersburg. §8 Leikin's porter

  The doorman/porter (швейцар) attached to editor Nikolai Leikin's Petersburg building, whom Masha is asked to recall by physical description rather than name; his death from typhus the day before this letter was written is reported in the same flat, matter-of-fact register as the rest of the letter's news, characteristic of Chekhov's clinical detachment as a doctor even in family correspondence.

• To M. V. Kiseleva, 21 March 1887. Moscow. §6 as I do, and Leikin and the rest

  Nikolai Leikin, editor of the Petersburg humor weekly \emph{Oskolki} and Chekhov's first major editor; cited here alongside Chekhov himself as a writer experienced enough in the Moscow and Petersburg book trades to negotiate publishing terms shrewdly, unlike the less market-savvy Kiseleva.

• To N. A. Leikin, 30 March 1887. Moscow. §2 Nikolai Alexandrovich

  Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin, editor of the Petersburg humor weekly Oskolki and Chekhov's first major editor, addressed here by name and patronymic.

• To N. A. Leikin, 17 April 1887. Taganrog. §3 ailing Nikolai Alexandrovich

  Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin, editor of the Petersburg humor weekly Oskolki and Chekhov's regular correspondent; the two habitually swapped mock-competitive reports on their real and imagined ailments, the running joke that opens this letter.

• To M. P. Chekhova, 5 May 1887. Chasov-Yar. §6 compare me with Leikin

  Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin, editor of the Petersburg humor weekly Oskolki and Chekhov's regular correspondent, walked with a limp; Chekhov jokes that his own sore leg now gives critics grounds to liken him to his editor -- a light self-deprecating aside, written the same day as a separate letter to Leikin himself.

• To the Chekhovs, 11 May 1887. Taganrog. §4 40,000 Leikins

  A private running joke: Chekhov measures pain and exhaustion in units of his stout editor Nikolai Leikin, here multiplied absurdly to '40,000 Leikins' worth of aching and limping.

• To N. A. Leikin, 4 June 1887. Babkino. §3 Nikolai Alexandrovich

  Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin, editor of the Petersburg humor magazine "Oskolki" ("Fragments") and Chekhov's chief patron-editor in the mid-1880s; the letter's addressee.

• To N. A. Leikin, 9 June 1887. Babkino. §2 Most kind Nikolai Alexandrovich!

  Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin, editor of the Petersburg comic weekly Oskolki (Fragments) and Chekhov's chief editor and correspondent in these early years.

• To N. A. Leikin, 17 July 1887. Babkino. §3 Nikolai Alexandrovich

  Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin, editor of the St. Petersburg humor weekly "Oskolki" and Chekhov's first major editor; Chekhov addresses him here by name and patronymic, the standard polite Russian form.

• To N. A. Leikin, 11 August 1887. Babkino. §3 Nikolai Alexandrovich

  Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin, editor of the St. Petersburg humor weekly "Oskolki" and Chekhov's first major editor, addressed here by name and patronymic, the standard polite Russian form.

• To N. M. Yezhov and A. S. Lazarev, 13–14 August 1887. Babkino. §3 Leikin

  Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin, editor of the St. Petersburg humor weekly "Oskolki" (Splinters), for which both Ezhov and Gruzinsky wrote alongside Chekhov; Leikin was notoriously touchy with his contributors, and Chekhov's first mock-legal "condition" is that Gruzinsky stop provoking him.

• To N. A. Leikin, 21 August 1887. Babkino. §3 you're the kindest soul, Nikolai Alexandrovich

  This epithet names Leikin himself (Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin), not Gruzinsky: Chekhov breaks from third-person narration of Gruzinsky's visit into a mid-sentence direct address to his correspondent, a chatty, teasing move typical of his letters to close editorial allies. Gruzinsky's own name was Alexander Sergeyevich Lazarev; the patronymic "Alexandrovich" belongs to Leikin alone.

• To M. V. Kiseleva, 13 September 1887. Moscow. §10 Leikin at once

  Nikolai Leikin, editor of the Petersburg humor weekly Oskolki and Chekhov's first major editor, to whom Chekhov was chronically in debt for advances against future comic pieces -- the running joke behind his reluctance to forward Kiseleva's anecdotes.

• L. N. Trefolev, 30 September 1887. Moscow. 30 Sept. §3 Leikin

  Nikolai Leikin, editor of the humor weekly Oskolki and Chekhov's early patron, at whose home Chekhov had seen Trefolev's portrait.

• To N. A. Leikin, 7 October 1887. Moscow. §3 Nikolai Alexandrovich

  Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin, editor of the St. Petersburg humor magazine Oskolki and Chekhov's first major editor and most frequent early correspondent; the addressee of this letter, just settled into a new house.

• To G. M. Chekhov, 17 October 1887. Moscow. §20 320. To N. A. LEIKIN

  "320." is the sequence number the source edition assigns to this second, separately numbered letter within its own run of correspondence -- a numbering artifact of the source that is preserved here as running text (section 20) rather than treated as an apparatus heading, consistent with how the letter-to-letter boundary is otherwise handled in this bundled entry.

• To N. A. Leikin, 4 November 1887. Moscow. §3 Nikolai Alexandrovich

  Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin, editor of the St. Petersburg humor magazine Oskolki, Chekhov's early patron and most frequent correspondent of the 1880s; the addressee of this letter.

• To N. A. Leikin, 15 November 1887. Moscow. §3 Nikolai Alexandrovich

  Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin, editor of the St. Petersburg humor weekly Oskolki, Chekhov's early patron and one of his most frequent correspondents; the addressee of this letter.

• To K. S. Barantsevich, 15 December 1887. Petersburg. §3 Leikin

  Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin, editor of the Petersburg humor weekly Oskolki and Chekhov's first major editor.

• N. A. Leikin, 27 December 1887. Moscow. §4 Nikolai Alexandrovich

  Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin, editor of the St. Petersburg humor weekly Oskolki, Chekhov's early patron in comic journalism and by this date also his publisher; the addressee of this New Year's letter.

• To A. S. Lazarev, 4 February 1888. Moscow. §8 From Leikin and Bilibin comes a dead silence.

  Nikolai Leikin, editor of the Petersburg humor weekly Oskolki, and Viktor Bilibin, a fellow Oskolki contributor and Chekhov's regular correspondent there; their unusual silence after Chekhov's recent literary news makes him uneasy, since he reads quiet more ominously than open complaint.

• To I. L. Leontyev, 4 February 1888. Moscow. §5 Leikin doesn't care for it when someone writes about merchant life

  Nikolai Leikin, editor of the humor weekly "Oskolki" and Chekhov's first major editor, himself a writer of merchant-life fiction; Chekhov cites him as an example of a writer touchy about others working his own territory.

• To N. A. Leikin, 26 February 1888. Moscow. §3 my most kind Nikolai Alexandrovich

  Nikolai Leikin, editor of the St. Petersburg humor weekly "Oskolki" ("Splinters") and Chekhov's first major editor; Chekhov's opening proverb ("Not a kopeck to my name, and then suddenly a windfall!") plays up his relief at finally hearing from him after a worrying silence.

• To N. A. Leikin, 7 March 1888. Moscow. §3 my dear Nikolai Alexandrovich

  Nikolai Leikin, editor of the St. Petersburg humor weekly "Oskolki" ("Splinters") and Chekhov's first major editor; Chekhov confirms a Thursday breakfast and outing together.

• To M. P. Chekhov, 16 March 1888. Petersburg. §3 the chattering Leikin

  Nikolai Leikin, Chekhov's former editor at Oskolki, traveling companion on the journey to Petersburg, whose nonstop talk kept Chekhov from reading, eating, or sleeping.

• To A. S. Lazarev, 22 March 1888. Moscow. §3 hurry and write to Leikin

  Nikolai Leikin, editor of the Petersburg humor weekly Oskolki and Chekhov's first major editor, who evidently has the standing to recommend a new contributor to the Petersburg Gazette's Monday feuilleton slot.

• To N. A. Leikin, 21 June 1888. Sumy. §3 kindest Nikolai Aleksandrovich

  Nikolai Leikin, editor of the St. Petersburg humor weekly "Oskolki" ("Splinters") and Chekhov's first major editor; addressee of the letter.

• To A. S. Lazarev, 26 June 1888. Sumy. §3 neither the muses, nor unclean spirits, nor N. A. Leikin

  Nikolai Leikin, editor of the St. Petersburg humor weekly "Oskolki" and Chekhov's first major editor, invoked here as a mock bogeyman to be kept away from Lazarev's future children.

• To A. S. Lazarev, 31 August 1888. Sumy. §4 the ever-so-dear Leichkin

  A mock-affectionate distortion of Leikin's name ("Леичкин" for "Лейкин"), needling him over the slow, unprofitable co-publishing terms Chekhov jokes about.

• To A. S. Lazarev, 31 August 1888. Sumy. §5 Nikolai Alexandrych

  Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin, editor of Oskolki, referred to first by name-patronymic and then, two sentences later in the same section, by surname -- both mentions are the same person.

• To N. A. Lei Kin, 5 October 1888. Moscow. §3 Nikolai Alexandrovich

  The letter's addressee, Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin, editor of "Oskolki" and publisher of the humorous collection Chekhov thanks him for below -- not to be confused with Chekhov's own brother Nikolai (Nikolai Pavlovich Chekhov, the painter), who appears later in \S7 sharing only the same given name.

• To N. A. Leikin, 5 November 1888. Moscow. §3 Most kind Nikolai Alexandrovich

  The letter's addressee, Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin, editor of "Oskolki," as always styled by his patronymic in the salutation.

• To N. A. Leikin, 8 November 1888. Moscow. §3 Most kind Nikolai Alexandrovich

  The letter's addressee, Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin, editor of "Oskolki," as always styled by his patronymic in the salutation.

• To Al. P. Chekhov, 23 November 1888. Moscow. §10 Leykin

  Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin, the publisher of "Oskolki," a recurring figure in this correspondence; Chekhov's threat here to write him "a scolding" is characteristic of their working relationship.

• To A. S. Suvorin, 24–25 November 1888. Moscow. §7 Leikin sent me a very funny vaudeville of his own composition

  Nikolai Leikin, the publisher and writer already established in this corpus (see's's, and's headnotes); the vaudeville mentioned here is a comic play of Leikin's own composition, not otherwise identified by title.

• To K. S. Barantsevich, 8 December 1888. Petersburg. §2 Leikin's

  Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin, editor of "Oskolki" and a frequent host/point of contact for Chekhov during his Petersburg visits, named elsewhere throughout the 1888 correspondence.

• To N. A. Leikin, 22 December 1888. Moscow. §3 Most kind Nikolai Alexandrovich

  The letter's addressee, Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin, editor of "Oskolki," as always styled by his patronymic in the salutation.

• To N. A. Leikin, 23 December 1888. Moscow. §3 Most kind Nikolai Alexandrovich

  The letter's addressee, Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin, editor of "Oskolki," as always styled by his patronymic in the salutation -- the same recipient as, written the day before.

• To N. A. Leikin, 21 February 1889. Moscow. §3 Dearest Nikolai Alexandrovich

  The letter's addressee, Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin, editor of "Oskolki," as always styled by his patronymic in the salutation.

• To N. A. Leikin, 24 February 1889. Moscow. §3 Nikolai Alexandrovich

  Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin, editor of the Petersburg humor weekly "Oskolki" ("Splinters") and Chekhov's longtime correspondent and early editor; this letter answers a prior letter of his point by point.

• To A. S. Suvorin, 5 March 1889. Moscow. §8 Don't believe Leikin.

  Nikolai Leikin, editor of the humor magazine "Oskolki" and Chekhov's first major editor; here named as the source of unreliable Petersburg gossip about Chekhov's health and personal life, which Chekhov briskly denies.

• To N. A. Leikin, 27 March 1889. Moscow. §3 Dearest Nikolai Alexandrovich

  The letter's addressee, Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin, editor of "Oskolki," styled by his patronymic in the salutation as usual.

• To A. S. Suvorin, 20 November 1889. Moscow. §9 Order the alarm sounded: Leikin did not care for the Paris Exhibition.

  N. A. Leikin, Chekhov's early editor at "Oskolki," already established in this corpus; the joke turns on Leikin's outsized self-importance -- his lukewarm verdict on the 1889 Paris Exposition Universelle (the fair famous for unveiling the Eiffel Tower) is presented, mock-seriously, as news dire enough to sound a public alarm.

• To A. S. Lazarev, 23 November 1889. Moscow. §9 Leikin

  Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin, editor of the St. Petersburg humor weekly \emph{Oskolki} (\emph{Fragments}), Chekhov's early publisher and long-time correspondent; the closing gossip reports his unenthusiastic reaction to the 1889 Paris Exposition.

• To N. A. Leikin, 2 December 1891. Moscow. §3 you recently received honorary citizenship, and with it a diploma

  Leikin, a successful editor-publisher of merchant background, had evidently just gone through the same honorary-citizenship application process Chekhov is now facing; Chekhov's appeal to him as "a man already tried in battle" treats Leikin's recent experience as a practical how-to guide -- which department, which forms, how many revenue stamps -- rather than a matter of legal theory.

• To N. M. Yezhov, 2 January 1892. Petersburg. §8 Leikin says that the story of yours which he has is also good.

  Nikolai Leikin, editor of \emph{Oskolki} and Chekhov's first major editor, relayed here as a second, independent source of praise for Yezhov's writing -- reinforcing \S7's report that Yezhov's work is being well received across the Petersburg circle. The specific story in Leikin's hands is not named.

• To N. M. Yezhov, 7 January 1892. Petersburg. §5 И за мою деликатность мне, кроме этого, привез Сам Лейкин 35 рублей

  Suvorina extends the same mock-reward logic one step further: for her exemplary grace in accepting a merely silver jeton without complaint, she claims Leikin brought her 35 rubles on top of it -- a comic escalation rather than a literal accounting, in the same register as Chekhov's own money-and-jeton bookkeeping asides in (the 100 rubles of \S4, the 9 rubles of \S5, Khudekov's 200 rubles against future work in \S6).

• To N. A. Leikin, 13 April 1890. Moscow. §4 Петербург, Лейкину.

  Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin, editor-publisher of the Petersburg humor weekly Oskolki ("Splinters"), for which Chekhov wrote extensively in the early 1880s under the "Antosha Chekhonte" byline, and one of his most frequent correspondents of that period. The telegram blank gives only city and surname, "Petersburg, Leikin" -- the minimal addressing convention of a wire, not an abbreviation choice by the translator.

• To A. S. Suvorin, 17 December 1890. Moscow. §11 That literary beluga writes to me

  Translates "Эта литературная белужина," from белуга (beluga, the very large sturgeon/whale-like fish), used here as an affectionate-mocking nickname for Leikin's stout physique -- "literary beluga" captures both the size joke and the fact that it is his letters, as a writer, that prompt it. The diminutive/augmentative form белужина intensifies the image (something like "great big beluga") rather than softening it. This is teasing about a friend's body among intimates, in the same register as Chekhov's own self-mockery about his growing belly two sections earlier (loc 6), not a hostile or demeaning label; Leikin was Chekhov's first major editor at Oskolki and the two remained on affectionate, joking terms. Rendered honestly as "literary beluga" rather than flattened to a generic "fat" or omitted, so the specific fish-image and its comic register survive in English.

• To N. A. Leikin, 27 December 1890. Moscow. §3 I congratulate you and wish you 53 more Christmases to celebrate

  A joking return of a New Year's/Christmas greeting Leikin had evidently sent first (the letter opens mid-exchange, "And the same to you, right back at you"), pegged to a specific, slightly absurd number rather than a vague "many more" -- a small comic tic characteristic of Chekhov's holiday notes to old friends. Leikin, born in 1841, would have been forty-nine at this date; the number 53 is not transparently biographical and reads as an arbitrary comic flourish rather than a calculation toward a round age.

• Notebooks. Diaries §4058 how Leikin

  Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin (1841-1906), editor of the humor magazine Oskolki, who gave the young Chekhov his first steady comic-writing outlet in the early 1880s.