To A. S. Suvorin, 18 April 1890. Moscow.

Dating and addressee. 18 April 1890, Moscow. Addressed to Alexei Sergeyevich Suvorin, Chekhov’s publisher, editor of Novoye Vremya, and closest correspondent of this period. Written on the eve of Chekhov’s departure across Siberia to Sakhalin Island, where he undertook a demographic survey/census of the penal colony (the journey that produced Ostrov Sakhalin). This is one of the last Moscow-dated letters before he sets out; by the next letters in the sequence he is en route.

Chekhov reports he is delayed one more day in Moscow and thanks Suvorin for a telegram. He gives Suvorin practical instructions for reaching him: letters can only find him on Sakhalin itself, since he will outrun the post through Siberia, though a letter sent promptly to the Vostochnoye Obozreniye editorial office in Irkutsk would still reach him. He warns Suvorin not to write the word "Sakhalin" in telegrams, comparing its effect on officials’ ears to mentioning the Peter and Paul Fortress (i.e., it invites suspicion/scrutiny from the authorities). He describes the practical travel problem: the Ob river is still frozen, so he must cover the Tyumen–Tomsk stretch by horse through dull, bleak country, since river navigation won’t open until 10 May. He thanks Suvorin for a "correspondent’s card" (a press-accreditation document facilitating his travel/reporting). He notes his next letter will come from the Volga, and that he is routing himself deliberately through Yaroslavl rather than Nizhny Novgorod to see more of the river. He explains his newspaper dispatches can’t really begin until Tomsk, since the country before that has already been thoroughly covered by other writers and holds no fresh interest. He closes warmly, mentions sending along two stories he received from Alexei Alexeyevich, signs "Yours, A. Chekhov," and adds a final note that Gilyarovsky visited that day, is going to meet "Sotnik" Peshkov, and wants to write to Suvorin about Peshkov’s horse.

Full salutation-equivalent content, connected prose reasoning about travel logistics, a proper valediction ("Yours, A. Chekhov") with signature, and a postscript-like closing note — none of the telegram markers (bare surname signature, absence of salutation/closing, extreme terseness) are present. Section 2 ("18 Apr. Wednesday.") functions as a secondary dateline/day-of-week note within the same letter, not a separate document.