To F. O. Shekhtel, 26 April 1886. Petersburg.

1 This short note was written on 26 April 1886 from Petersburg to Franz (Fyodor) Osipovich Shekhtel, the architect and stage designer who was one of Chekhov’s closest friends from their Moscow years – the two had grown up in overlapping bohemian-journalistic circles and would remain close correspondents and collaborators for decades. Chekhov had just arrived in Petersburg on newspaper business; he reports seeing the engraver and printer Konstantin Golike, gives Shekhtel his temporary address at the "Oskolki" ("Splinters") editorial office, and asks after Shekhtel’s health and the whereabouts of a mutual acquaintance, Nikolai (likely Shekhtel’s brother or another shared friend).

2 The letter is a small, unguarded slice of Chekhov’s daily life at twenty-six: gossip about the eccentric theatrical producer Mikhail Lentovsky, whom he is contracted to write a féerie (fairy-extravaganza) for, a passing mention of borrowing money from his publisher Alexei Suvorin, and a closing tease about a planned drinking outing with Golike. Its interest is mostly biographical and social rather than literary: it captures the texture of Chekhov’s friendship with Shekhtel and the practical, money-and-favors backdrop of his early career as a jobbing writer in the "Oskolki" circle.