I. L. Leontyev (Shcheglov), Between 16 and 20 December 1887. Moscow.

1 Written from Moscow in the second half of December 1887 to Ivan Leontyev, who wrote under the pen name Shcheglov, a fellow writer and reserve naval officer whom Chekhov addressed affectionately as "Captain." The letter follows soon after a visit Chekhov had made to Petersburg, where the two men met and Shcheglov had hosted him, and it is a short, warm note of thanks written once Chekhov was back at his desk in Moscow, his mind still lingering on the Petersburg visit.

2 The letter is brief and playful: Chekhov thanks Shcheglov for his hospitality and for books he had given him, jokes about badly imitating Shcheglov’s distinctive "tragic laugh," encloses two photographs of himself (one for Shcheglov, one to be passed to a third party jokingly styled "boyar Alexius"), and closes with a mock-solemn request that Shcheglov doctor this very letter with witty sayings before it is someday published after Chekhov’s death – a joke that proved prophetic. A postscript nudges Shcheglov to keep writing and asks after the progress of a work referred to as "Mignon."