To Al. P. Chekhov, 25 February 1890. Moscow.

1 Dating and addressee. 25 February 1890, Moscow. Addressed to Chekhov’s older brother Alexander Pavlovich Chekhov ("Al. P. Chekhovu" in the source dateline), teasingly called "Gusev" and opened with the mock-affectionate "Infusorian!" — a running joke of absurd pet names between the brothers. Written a matter of weeks before Chekhov’s departure (April 1890) for his journey across Siberia to the Sakhalin penal colony, at the height of his preparatory research.

2 Chekhov asks Alexander for as thorough a survey as possible of the newspaper literature on Sakhalin, explaining that he wants not just factual reportage but the "historical illumination" behind it: he distrusts both writers who had never set foot on Sakhalin and knew nothing of the subject, and self-interested writers who profited from the "Sakhalin question" while posing as disinterested. He tells Alexander that a hired female copyist will take over library visits to the Rumyantsev Library from the third week of Lent, and dismisses Alexander ("fool") from further trips to the Public Library, promising him other tasks by letter in the coming weeks. The letter closes with an earthy, self-deprecating riff on lice and personal uncleanliness (contra Goncharov’s Zakhar and their own brother Alexander, who apparently argued lice and bedbugs are unavoidable), a home remedy (sabadilla decoction) suggested for the pharmacy, family greetings, and the signoff "Your benefactor A. Chekhov."

5 it carries a full dateline, a discursive multi-sentence body across several topics, an affectionate running joke in the salutation, and a signed closing formula ("Твой благодетель А. Чехов" / "Your benefactor A. Chekhov").