To N. S. Tikhonravov, 23 November 1889. Moscow.

1 A very short, formal note of 23 November 1889 from Moscow, addressed to Nikolai Savvich Tikhonravov (Николай Саввич Тихонравов), by patronymic and given name only in the salutation ("Николай Саввич!"), with the full name "Н. С. Тихонравову" given in the source title. The letter is written in the stiff, third-person-tinged idiom of official correspondence to the secretary or head of a learned society, not in Chekhov’s usual familiar register.

2 Chekhov, identifying himself as "an active/full member" ("действ[ительный] член") of the Society in question, acknowledges a letter from Tikhonravov concerning proposed changes to the Society’s charter ("устав") and formally states his consent to them. The letter contains no other content: no personal news, no literary matter, nothing beyond the bare administrative acknowledgment, closed with a conventional epistolary formula of deep respect and devotion.