To I. M. Kondratyev, 2 December 1889. Moscow.

Letter to Ivan Maksimovich Kondratyev, dated December 2, 1889, Moscow.

Kondratyev (1849–1904) was a playwright and, at this time, an officer (secretary) of the Society of Russian Dramatic Writers and Opera Composers, of which Chekhov was a member. This is a brief, businesslike membership-nomination note: Chekhov asks Kondratyev to enroll Nikolai Mikhailovich Ezhov (1862–1942), a young writer and minor playwright then close to Chekhov’s circle, as a member of the Society. Chekhov lists two of Ezhov’s one-act plays with obviously joking, mock-grand genre labels ("classic plays") — the titles themselves ("The Raccoon Pug,The Sportsman and the Matchmaker") read as farcical/parodic one-act titles typical of the light theatrical fare of the period. Chekhov encloses the membership fee (15 rubles) and a theater poster (presumably as supporting documentation of production, required for membership eligibility).