To V. S. Likhachev, 8 September 1889. Moscow.

Written from Moscow on 8 September 1889 to Vladimir Sergeyevich Likhachev (1849–1910), a playwright and translator who also worked as a censor and later a theatre-and-literature committee official. Chekhov and Likhachev moved in the same Moscow theatrical circles in this period.

The letter is a short, businesslike favor: Likhachev had evidently asked Chekhov to find out, on his behalf, the fee schedule paid by a publisher for plays, and whether the journal "Artist" (a Moscow theatrical monthly) might take him on as a contributor. Chekhov relays, in quotation, the relevant passage from a letter he had just received that morning from "the Kumanin office" – the publishing house of the Kumanin family, which at this date published "Artist" – confirming that Likhachev is welcome as a contributor and setting out its sliding fee scale for plays (100–150 roubles for a four- or five-act play that had run at an imperial theatre, up to 75 roubles for one performed only on a private stage, and nothing, apart from a few free copies, for an unperformed play). Chekhov then adds a warm, informal close, telling Likhachev to call on him for any errand without ceremony, and signs off with regards to their shared acquaintances.