To A. S. Suvorin, 3 January 1889. Moscow.

1 Written from Moscow on 3 January 1889 to Alexei Suvorin, this is a short, hurried letter – Chekhov says outright that his brother is standing over him waiting to take it to the post – answering a telegram from Suvorin and rattling through a string of unrelated items: casting approvals for the Petersburg "Ivanov," a request for a fresh copy of the play, a denial that he is coming to Petersburg, a joking swipe at a rival newspaper, and a closing reproach that Suvorin’s paper has ignored the Garshin memorial volume.

2 After the double dateline (1-2), Chekhov answers Suvorin’s telegram, promising a fuller letter will arrive by the 4th (3), then approves a run of casting choices for "Ivanov": Abarinova as Babakina, "Svobodin" as Shabelsky, and Apollonsky as Dr. Lvov (4). He turns at once to a casting problem of his own – Davydov’s apparent interest in playing Lebedev raises the question of who will play Ivanov himself if Sazonov is unavailable (5). Domestic and postal business follows: he reports having sorted out a delivery problem with the railway dispatch agency and lists what has and has not yet arrived from Suvorin – the revised copy of "Tatyana Repina" and two letters received, but not the monologue proof or Potekhin’s casting letter (6) – and asks that Potekhin be prompted to have a copy of "Ivanov" made and sent, since Chekhov has no copy of his own to work revisions from (7). He reports his sister’s recovery (8) and flatly denies a rumor, apparently started by a mistaken report to his brother, that he is coming to Petersburg the next day (9). A jab at the newspaper "Novosti" follows, with a mock demand for 15,000 roubles in compensation for not competing with it (10), then a note explaining the letter’s haste – his brother is waiting to carry it off (11). Chekhov adds a moment of private candor about "Ivanov," admitting he does not love the play and wishes someone more capable had written it, even as he wants it to succeed (12), before closing with regards, signature (13-14), a follow-up plea for the promised copy of the play (15), and a final reproach that Suvorin’s paper has said nothing about the "In Memory of Garshin" memorial volume (16).