To A. N. Pleshcheyev, 1 October 1888. Moscow.

1 Written from Moscow on 1 October 1888 to the poet Alexei Nikolayevich Pleshcheev, an older friend and, as an editor at "Severny Vestnik," one of Chekhov’s most valued literary correspondents. This short note opens the "pismo-3" letter series (a new volume/numbering run in the source collection) and is purely a practical errand rather than a literary or personal exchange.

2 Chekhov writes on behalf of N. V. (Nikolai Vasilyevich) Svetlov, an actor at Moscow’s Korsh Theater, who wishes to stage Eugene Scribe’s play "Brazen Foreheads" ("Медные лбы") – in a Russian translation that Pleshcheev apparently holds the rights to or otherwise controls – for his benefit performance. Chekhov asks Pleshcheev to confirm there is no objection or legal obstacle and to reply either to Chekhov directly or straight to Svetlov at the Korsh Theater. The letter is a small piece of theatrical business-brokering, characteristic of Chekhov’s role as an intermediary between the Moscow stage and the literary world.