To V. A. Tikhonov, 24 January 1892. Moscow.

Contents: dateline, short-form date, a remark on the journal "Sever" ("The North") and its money, a receipt enclosed for a small debt with an anecdote about famine relief, a note that Tikhonov’s books have been bound, a reminiscence of a name-day party, a valediction, a playful signature line, and the signature.

Chekhov confirms receipt of both the journal and payment, then, having just returned from Nizhny Novgorod province (where he was engaged in 1891-92 famine relief work), remarks on the third issue of "Sever" waiting for him: he teases Tikhonov, the editor, that a seven-ruble journal cannot afford to lavish such costly material on its readers, likening the mismatch to a humble blini piled with expensive caviar and sour cream, and wonders what profit can be left over – then waves the matter off as none of his business. He encloses a receipt for a twenty-kopeck coin he had wheedled out of Tikhonov at the restaurant Maly Yaroslavets while dining with Bilibin (, if built): Tikhonov had assumed the coin went to a cabby, but Chekhov in fact donated it to the famine relief fund, and jokes that this alone guarantees Tikhonov’s place in heaven and absolves his frequent visits to the tavern by his editorial office. A brief note reports Tikhonov’s books have been bound. Chekhov then recalls, vaguely, an image of Tikhonov perched on a coachman’s box, and remarks that the finale of a name-day party at the home of one Ivan Leontyevich (likely Chekhov’s friend and fellow writer I. L. Leontyev, who wrote under the pen name Shcheglov;, if built) came off brilliantly. The letter closes with a wish for good health, a playful signature line punning on the name-day theme just raised ("the name-day man of your heart"), and the signature.