To Ya. A. Korneyev, 1887. Moscow.

1 Written from Moscow in October 1887 to Yakov Alexandrovich Korneyev, a correspondent Chekhov addresses throughout in a running joke of mock military rank – hailing him as "colonel" and signing himself "your captain" (esaul, a Cossack cavalry rank). The letter reports that Chekhov has passed Korneyev’s article along to Alexei Suvorin, the powerful publisher of "Novoye Vremya," for consideration.

2 Chekhov describes talking Korneyev up to Suvorin without reservation, so that Korneyev is now "known to him till the grave" regardless of whether this particular article is accepted. He notes drily that Suvorin’s paper is currently feuding with the "Moscow Gazette" and can hardly stand the sight of it since the death of its longtime editor, Mikhail Katkov – so Korneyev’s well-meant enclosure of a review from that paper was a misstep. The letter closes with joking threats to collect a drink from Korneyev once he is a paid contributor, a quoted line of flattering praise Chekhov claims to have written on his behalf, and a brief apology for an ink blot on the page.