To V. A. Tikhonov, 13 January 1891. Petersburg.

Written from Petersburg on 13 January 1891 to Vladimir Alekseyevich Tikhonov, the playwright and journalist (later editor of Sever) with whom Chekhov kept up a long, jocular correspondence. This note is a short, breezy announcement of arrival in the capital, addressed to Tikhonov with the mock-formal salutation "Your Squirearchical Health" – a running joke playing on Tikhonov’s status as a landowner.

Chekhov jokes that he will spend his first ten days in Petersburg writing, purely for want of money, before turning to pleasure once his pockets are full again. The letter closes with a characteristically throwaway domestic detail – his waking hour – and an address panel marked "In town," indicating the note was delivered locally rather than sent by post.