To N. A. Leikin, 25 November 1884. Moscow.
H. A. Лейкину, 25 ноября 1884 г. Москва.
Headnote
A brief note from Chekhov to Nikolai Leikin, editor of the Petersburg humor magazine Oskolki ("Fragments"), for which Chekhov was a regular contributor. Chekhov explains that instead of a short feuilleton on the ongoing "Rykov trial" – a major fraud case involving the collapse of a bank in Skopin that had drawn national attention in 1884 – he is sending a set of sketches titled "Skopin Sketches" ("Skopinskie kartinki"), reasoning that the scale of the scandal could not be compressed into a standard 40-50 line feuilleton.
Chekhov was in Moscow covering aspects of the trial and reports that proceedings would continue for at least another two weeks, offering to send further sketches for a subsequent issue. The letter closes with a characteristically terse, weary sign-off after a day at the courthouse.