To M. I. Chaykovsky, 16 April 1890. Moscow.

A brief farewell note to Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky, playwright and librettist and the younger brother of the composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, written on 16 April 1890 – just days before Chekhov’s departure from Moscow on the cross-Siberian journey to the penal colony on Sakhalin Island, the expedition that would occupy him through the second half of 1890 and produce his book "Ostrov Sakhalin" ("Sakhalin Island"). Chekhov and Modest Tchaikovsky moved in overlapping theatrical and literary circles in Moscow and Petersburg; the letter’s warmth ("dear Modest Ilyich") and its request to be remembered to Pyotr Ilyich indicate real personal familiarity with both brothers, not mere politeness.

The letter is short and practical: Chekhov gives his own address en route (Post Aleksandrovsky, on Sakhalin), the postal cutoff dates for reaching him (letters must be sent before 25 July; anything later will miss him), and his planned return route (a steamer leaving Odessa 1 August, meeting his outgoing post; letters sent before June would instead travel overland through Siberia). He asks for a line or two, citing the fog and tedium he anticipates on the island. The one lighter touch is his request that Modest imagine him in the gallery applauding when Modest is called out for "The Symphony" (a theatrical work being staged that autumn) – and a wry request to be remembered "in your holy prayers" during the post-performance supper.

the whole item – body plus envelope