To A. P. Lensky, 19 November 1889. Moscow.

This is a terse one-line note, not a discursive letter, sent by Chekhov to the actor and stage director Alexandr Pavlovich Lensky (1847-1908), a leading figure of the Maly Theatre in Moscow and a close friend and correspondent of Chekhov’s through the late 1880s and into the 1890s. Chekhov and Lensky collaborated and corresponded around Maly Theatre business and, later, Chekhov’s own dramatic work.

The note itself is purely a relay of practical information: "Alexandrov expects Karatygina on Monday no later than nine o’clock in the morning." Chekhov is passing along a scheduling instruction from a third party (Alexandrov) concerning a fourth party (Karatygina), presumably some Maly Theatre or rehearsal-related arrangement, without further explanation – the kind of brief errand-note common in the working correspondence between Chekhov and Moscow theatre people in this period. No further context for "Alexandrov" or "Karatygina" is given in the letter itself.

The source marks the note "На бланке" ("On the letterhead/printed form"), indicating Chekhov wrote it on a pre-printed blank rather than plain stationery – consistent with a quick, functional message rather than a personal letter. The final lines are the delivery address block: Bolshoi Afanasyevsky Lane, in Ternovskaya’s house, addressed to Alexandr Pavlovich Lensky. This address-block tail is a normal feature of notes sent by hand or messenger in this period and is not a separate document.