To A. N. Pleshcheyev, 17 March 1890. Moscow.

it opens with a full salutation ("Дорогой Алексей Николаевич" / "Dear Aleksey Nikolayevich"), develops several distinct topics in turn, and closes with a courtesy wish and signature. Written eleven days before Chekhov left Moscow for his journey across Siberia to the penal colony on Sakhalin Island (he departed 21 April 1890), it shows him tying off literary and social business before the trip.

Addressee: Aleksey Nikolayevich Pleshcheyev (1825-1893), poet and the literary/belles-lettres editor of "Severny Vestnik" (Северный вестник, "The Northern Herald"), one of Chekhov’s most trusted literary confidants in this period.

Content summary, by section: - (1-2) Dateline, given twice as in the source (a fuller form and a bare day/month repeat). - (3) Chekhov sends his play "The Wood Demon" (Леший) to Pleshcheyev rather than directly to the editorial office, apologetically, anticipating a rejection ("a red cross on my play"); he names two other readers who had already been more indulgent toward it, Dmitry Merezhkovsky and Prince Alexander Urusov. - (4) He promises a story before departure, to be finished en route if necessary — a reference to material that would become Sakhalin-journey writing. - (5) Social banter: he reproaches Pleshcheyev’s daughter, Yelena Alekseyevna, for standing up an evening party Chekhov had paid for (wine, food, musicians, "young ladies"); he needles that even the censorship committee is duller than expected these days. - (6) A novella by the actor Grekov, meant for "Severny Vestnik," sits unread on Chekhov’s sofa — mild comic self-deprecation about his own reading backlog. - (7) Bemused, deliberately uninterested remarks on the revival of the Theatrical-Literary Committee (the state censorship/approval body for stage works). - (8) The longest and most substantive section. Chekhov’s landlord, Korneev, is being promoted to inspector of Moscow University, replacing Dobrov, who is stepping down over the 1890 student disturbances at the university. Chekhov quotes Pushkin ("Тяжела ты, шапка Мономаха!" / "Heavy is thou, cap of Monomakh!" — the burden of high office, from Boris Godunov) mockingly of his landlord’s self-importance, then turns pointedly serious: he says he has read the student proclamations himself and found nothing objectionable in their content, but that they are badly drafted and reveal in their hand not a student but "kikes and... midwives" (жидки и... акушерки), i.e., that he does not believe students actually wrote them. He adds that the university administration’s own counter-broadsheets, posted for students to sign, are edited even worse and "reek of the departmental watchman Mikheich." - (9) Logistics for the Siberian trip: he will send his itinerary and addresses; a joking promise of 99 Manila cigars if the steamer calls there (100 would incur duty). - (10-11) Closing good wishes, regards to the family, signature "Yours, A. Chekhov." - (12) A one-line postscript asking after "Zhano Shcheglov" — Ivan Shcheglov (Леонтьев), a fellow writer and friend, whom Chekhov and Pleshcheyev’s circle addressed by the French-flavored nickname "Jean" (rendered here in its Russian phonetic spelling, Жано/Zhano).