To A. I. Sumbatov, 14 December 1889. Moscow.

A short note written 14 December 1889 from Moscow to Prince Alexander Ivanovich Sumbatov, the actor and playwright at the Maly Theatre better known by his stage name Yuzhin – a frequent correspondent of Chekhov’s in this period (compare the 25 November and 7 December 1889 letters to Suvorin, in which Chekhov is shown fielding a book request from Sumbatov and promising to relay an answer to him). The two men were on close, informal terms, as the warm "Милый Александр Иванович" ("Dear Alexander Ivanovich") opening and the affectionate close signal.

Chekhov is sending Sumbatov a play of his own that has just cleared theatrical censorship ("получил ее из цензуры" – "got it back from the censor"). He does not name the play in this letter, but the timing – mid-December 1889, a comedy/drama just past censorship, aimed at consideration by the Maly Theatre’s leading lady Fedotova – lines up with "Леший" ("The Wood Demon"), the play Chekhov was placing with theaters that winter (it would premiere at Abramova’s theater in Moscow later that same month, after apparently not being taken up at the Maly). This identification is not stated explicitly in the letter itself and should be treated as probable context rather than a certainty flagged in the text.

The content is a brief, self-deprecating cover note: Chekhov worries that his own play, full of "petty, two-kopeck riffraff" of a character, will look shabby to audiences whose taste has just been set by a run of "Macbeth" with its grand Shakespearean villains – a wry comparison of his own naturalistic, unheroic characters against tragic stage villainy. He asks Sumbatov to read the play and predicts (accurately, if this is indeed "The Wood Demon") that it won’t suit Glikeria Fedotova, the celebrated Maly Theatre actress. The note closes with a simple wish of health and the signature "Ваш А. Чехов" ("Your A. Chekhov").