Sever

Reading notes

• To P. P. Gnedich, 15 December 1888. Petersburg. §4 "Sever"

  The St. Petersburg illustrated weekly "Sever" ("North"), founded 1888, with which Gnedich was affiliated at this time; left untransliterated with a gloss per this corpus's practice for periodical titles.

• To V. A. Tikhonov, 14 September 1891. Moscow. §8 "Sever"

  "Sever" (Север, "The North"), a St. Petersburg illustrated weekly journal of literature and art founded in 1888; Tikhonov appears to have become associated with or taken up an editorial role at it around this date, prompting Chekhov's request for a sample issue "for acquaintance."

• To V. A. Tikhonov, 11 October 1891. Moscow. §5 the premium

  A subscriber's premium (премия) -- a gift or supplement, often a set of pictures or prints, that Russian journals of the period sent to subscribers as an inducement; evidently issued in connection with Tikhonov's journal "Sever" ("The North"), whose associated premium included a picture of storks.

• To V. A. Tikhonov, 21 November 1891. Moscow. §3 I'll sit down to write for \emph{Sever}

  Tikhonov had recently become editor of "Sever" (Север, "The North"), the St. Petersburg illustrated weekly; this letter finds Chekhov owing him a contribution for the first issue under his new editorship, the same editorship tracked across the earlier letters to Tikhonov (\S8) and (\S3).

• To V. A. Tikhonov, 21 November 1891. Moscow. §5 The announcement is well composed

  Refers to a promotional announcement (объявление) for "Sever" under its new editorship -- presumably a subscription notice or prospectus Tikhonov had sent or shown Chekhov, comparable to the sample issue Chekhov had earlier asked to see "for acquaintance" in (\S8).

• To A. S. Suvorin, 27 November 1891. Moscow. §5 Tomorrow I'm sending a story to \emph{Sever}.

  A second, separate placement -- an unnamed story going to the St. Petersburg illustrated weekly \emph{Sever} (The North), distinct from the famine story just placed with \emph{Severny Vestnik} in the sentence immediately above. No further identifying detail is given in this letter, and this piece is not otherwise traceable in the corpus.

• To V. A. Tikhonov, 30 November 1891. Moscow. §7 I enclose a subscription form

  Chekhov encloses a printed subscription form (подписной бланок) for \emph{Sever} and asks Tikhonov to have a copy of the magazine sent to a given address, with the cost deducted from Chekhov's own contributor's fee -- an ordinary piece of magazine business, and a mark of his practical involvement in Tikhonov's editorship (cf. his earlier offer of photographs for the magazine in, \S7).

• To V. A. Tikhonov, 8 December 1891. Moscow. §4 \emph{Sever} is being advertised well, and one can hope for success

  Chekhov continues the practical, encouraging interest in Tikhonov's editorship of \emph{Sever} that runs through the earlier letters in this correspondence, here asking after subscription numbers and noting the magazine's advertising.

• To N. M. Yezhov, 2 January 1892. Petersburg. §17 As to sending you "Sever" and "Severny Vestnik," I shall make the application in due course.

  Chekhov offers to arrange Yezhov's subscription or complimentary copies of two Petersburg journals, \emph{Sever} and \emph{Severny Vestnik}, both previously placed by Chekhov himself with stories in late 1891 (\S4-5). A small further instance of Chekhov using his own standing with Petersburg editors on Yezhov's behalf.

• To V. A. Tikhonov, 10 January 1892. Moscow. §3 As for me, I don't receive \emph{Sever}

  A wry, glancing complaint: although Tikhonov edits \emph{Sever} and Chekhov publishes in it (cf., \S4-5, fixing the title of "The Grasshopper" for its pages), Chekhov himself is apparently not sent, or is not receiving, his own contributor's or subscriber's copies of the journal -- the kind of small administrative grievance typical of this brisk, joking correspondence.

• To V. A. Tikhonov, 24 January 1892. Moscow. §3 the 3rd issue of "Sever"

  "Sever" ("The North"), -- the St. Petersburg illustrated weekly of which the letter's addressee, Vladimir Tikhonov, was at this period an editor; Chekhov's own story "Poprygunya" ("The Grasshopper") had just appeared there in nos. 1-2 (5 and 12 January 1892). Chekhov's complaint here -- that the journal lavishes costly illustrated material on subscribers paying only seven rubles a year -- is friendly editorial ribbing about Tikhonov's own budget, not a complaint about quality.