To V. A. Tikhonov, 11 November 1889. Moscow.

Written 11 November 1889 from Moscow to Vladimir Alekseevich Tikhonov (1857-1914), a minor dramatist and prose writer, editor, and one of Chekhov’s regular correspondents in the theatrical world of the late 1880s. The letter is short and purely functional-cum-jocular: it answers a practical question about the fate of a play manuscript and passes along two personal messages.

Content: Chekhov opens with a mock-formal, joking salutation nicknaming Tikhonov “Monsieur Sardou” – an allusion to the immensely popular and prolific French playwright Victorien Sardou (1831-1908), teasing Tikhonov for his own productivity or theatrical ambitions. He explains he is holding on to a play manuscript of Tikhonov’s rather than returning it, awaiting word (letter or telegram) on whether to deliver it instead to Rassokhin – almost certainly Sergei Fedorovich Rassokhin, who ran a Moscow theatrical-manuscript copying/lending business (a play-lending library serving provincial theaters) frequently mentioned in Chekhov’s correspondence of this period. Chekhov promises to act at once on instructions. He then sends greetings to Chervinsky, praised as talented – this is Fyodor Alekseevich Chervinsky, a poet and playwright in Tikhonov’s circle. The closing section is a bit of affectionate ribbing: Tikhonov has apparently mentioned writing a novel, and Chekhov jokes that Tikhonov’s laziness matured faster than his literary ambition, predicting he will start the novel, get halfway, then collapse onto a divan for six months. The letter closes with a conventional health-wish and signature.