To I. N. Sakharov, 6 February 1891. Moscow.

A brief note of thanks and practical follow-up, written from Moscow on 6 February 1891 to Ivan Nikolaevich Sakharov, who is not otherwise identified in the letter itself but whose role emerges clearly from its content: an intermediary helping Chekhov arrange the shipment of donated books to Sakhalin, part of the library-building effort Chekhov took up after his journey to the penal colony (compare the same project in the neighboring letter to I. P. Chekhov, which names the Literacy Committee and its Petersburg counterpart). Chekhov asks Sakharov to have a Mr. Kettritz redirect an explanatory letter – meant to accompany the shipment – away from an Odessa shop and to Chekhov himself, along with a full inventory of the books being sent; jokes, in mock-liturgical language, that even poor packing will not matter, since the ship’s officers can be trusted to stow the books somewhere decent; and asks, with evident curiosity, whether the Petersburg committee’s own contribution will consist of textbooks or general reading matter.