To M. P. Chekhov, 28 January 1890. Petersburg.

1 Dating and addressee. 28 January 1890, Petersburg. Written to Chekhov’s younger brother Mikhail Pavlovich Chekhov ("Misha"), who at this time managed household and financial matters for the family in Moscow. Chekhov was in Petersburg attending to the final arrangements for his journey to Sakhalin Island, which he would begin that April.

2 A brisk, practical family letter. Chekhov asks Misha to check the date and terms of a pawned item (a pledge note, series 9145, No. 17) held at a pawnbroker’s, and gives detailed instructions for renewing the pledge with money borrowed from their mother if the term falls due on 2 or 3 February — including asking the pawnbroker’s agent, Volkov, to accept payment without the receipt (which is locked in Chekhov’s desk) on the strength of his own ledger records, with the receipt to follow when Chekhov returns. Chekhov says he expects to return to Moscow around 4-5 February and that he is homesick. He then reports that his arrangements with Mikhail Galkin-Vrasskoy, head of the Main Prison Administration, are essentially settled, and lays out his planned route to Sakhalin: down the Kama, through Perm, Tyumen, Tomsk, and Irkutsk, along the Amur to Sakhalin, then on to Japan, China, Colombo, Port Said, Constantinople, and Odessa (with a stop in Manila), departing Moscow in early April. He closes with greetings to the family, a request that Masha go to Volkov’s if Misha cannot, notes that he is seeing Maria Vladimirovna and Vasilisa, and that their brother Alexander and his family are well.