To Al. P. Chekhov, 25 September 1887. Moscow.
Ал. П. ЧЕХОВУ, 25 сентября 1887 г. Москва.
Headnote
1 Written from Moscow on 25 September 1887 to Chekhov’s elder brother Alexander in Petersburg, this is another of the terse business notes Anton sent him that autumn, mixed in with family news. Chekhov styles the letter as a mock itemized "account," instructing Alexander – addressed by the joking nickname "Gusev" – to go to the office of the "Peterburgskaya Gazeta" ("Pet gaz"), track down two unpaid or missing issues by their serial numbers, count the lines of his published stories, and extract the fee owed him, using the children’s hunger as leverage if necessary.
2 Around the money errand cluster the usual fraternal items: a rebuke on their father’s behalf over an unanswered name-day letter and an indignant denial of some family accusation about birching a schoolboy; a report that their brother Nikolai has been staying with Anton; questions about the publisher Alexei Suvorin and the critic Viktor Burenin, from whom Chekhov wants a promised review; and sales news and promotional instructions for his newly published story collection "Twilight" ("Сумерки"), including a request to send a copy to a Colonel Nikolai Karlych at the same newspaper.