To F. O. Shekhtel, 7 January 1891. Moscow.
Ф. О. ШЕХТЕЛЮ, 7 января 1891 г. Москва.
Headnote
A short note written from Moscow on 7 January 1891 to Franz (Fyodor) Osipovich Shekhtel, the architect and stage designer who was one of Chekhov’s closest friends from their days together on the humor magazines of the early 1880s and who would go on to become a leading figure of Russian Art Nouveau architecture. Chekhov is about to leave for Petersburg and gives Shekhtel his forwarding address there – Suvorin’s apartment on Malaya Italyanskaya – along with his new Moscow address, the Firgang house on Malaya Dmitrovka, remarking wryly that he has become "an aristocrat" now that he lives on a more fashionable street. The letter closes with a plan to dine together once both are in Petersburg.
I’m leaving today, since Moscow bores me. I’ll expect you in Petersburg: Malaya Italyanskaya, 18, Suvorin’s apartment. My Moscow address is no longer Korneyev’s but a new one now: Malaya Dmitrovka, the Firgang house. I’m an aristocrat now, and so I live on an aristocratic street. Let’s have dinner together in Petersburg.
Я уеду сегодня, ибо в Москве мне скучно. Буду ожидать Вас в Петербурге: Малая Итальянская, 18, кв. Суворина. Мой московский адрес не корнеевский, а уже новый: Малая Дмитровка, д. Фирганг. Я уже аристократ и потому живу на аристократической улице. В Петербурге давайте пообедаем.
I wish you all the best.
Желаю Вам всего хорошего.
Yours, A. Chekhov.
Ваш А. Чехов.
On the reverse:
На обороте:
Franz Osipovich Shekhtel.