To Ye. I. Savelyeva, 2 January 1885. Moscow.

Dated January 2, 1885, this brief, playful note is addressed to Evgenia Iasonovna Savelyeva, the wife of Dmitri Grigoryevich Savelyev, a censor in Taganrog and a friend of the Chekhov family who himself adds a line in his own hand near the letter’s close. Chekhov writes to return her New Year’s greeting, apologizing with mock contrition for not having written first despite having sent out a flurry of Christmas cards and letters to others.

Much of the letter turns on gentle self-deprecating comedy: Chekhov protests that reports of his "strenuous labors" are exaggerated, noting that he rises at ten, retires at midnight, and indulges freely in amusements – hardly the habits of a true toiler. He also touches, half seriously, on a recent bout of poor health (an early brush with the tuberculosis that would eventually kill him), remarking that the sympathy it drew from friends like Evgenia Iasonovna made the illness almost worth having. The letter closes with a comic sketch of her husband – "your tyrant," an "Othello" jealous over her correspondence – followed by family regards, D. G. Savelyev’s own censor’s endorsement (he served as a censor in Taganrog), and the envelope’s address details routing the letter to Iason Ivanovich Blonsky, senior notary, for delivery to Evgenia Iasonovna. The piece is a small, warm specimen of Chekhov’s holiday correspondence with old Taganrog acquaintances.