To F. A. Kumanin, 8 January 1890. Petersburg.

Written from Petersburg on 8 January 1890, to Fyodor Alexandrovich Kumanin (1855–1896), editor-publisher of the Moscow illustrated journal Artist (russian"Артист"). Chekhov had given Kumanin the rights to print his play The Wood Demon (russian"Леший"), which had premiered in Moscow the previous month (December 1889) to a poor reception – a flop Chekhov himself alludes to bluntly here. This letter is Chekhov backpedaling: he asks Kumanin not to publish the play after all, offering instead to write him an extravagant quantity of stories in exchange, and promising to reimburse any typesetting costs already incurred. The Wood Demon would in fact not appear in Artist; Chekhov later reworked its material into Uncle Vanya (1896-97).

The letter is a single short private note in one register throughout – business urgency giving way to jokes and a closing pleasantry are the dateline (the day given twice, once in full and once abbreviated, as often in this edition’s letter headers). are the core business about the play and proofs. is a brief, unexplained personal aside ("When to the girls, then?") – almost certainly a joking reference between the two men (Kumanin kept a mistress/mistresses in Moscow, a running subject of gossip in Chekhov’s Moscow circle) that would have needed no explanation to its addressee; it should be left as an untraceable in-joke rather than over-glossed. is a weather complaint. are the sign-off.