To I. S. Vologdin, 8 March 1891. Moscow.

This is a telegram, not a letter — a single line of business, unsigned in the ordinary sense and closed with only the surname. The clipped grammar ("Books sent 666 rubles by steamer without cash on delivery") is genuine telegraphic economy, not literary compression.

It is a direct reply. Per the editorial commentary accompanying this item in the standard edition (Полное собрание сочинений и писем, Письма), Vologdin had telegraphed Chekhov on 6 March 1891 asking what sum had been spent on Suvorin’s schoolbooks for the Sakhalin schools, so that the money could be transferred once Vologdin knew the total cost and whether the cash-on-delivery charge had been lifted. Chekhov’s wire answers exactly that: the books have gone out by steamer already paid for, cash on delivery waived, so Vologdin should hold off remitting the 666 rubles until June.

I. S. Vologdin was the head of the chancery office of the commandant of Sakhalin Island (правитель канцелярии начальника острова Сахалин) — Chekhov’s institutional point of contact for the schoolbook shipments he organized for the island’s schools after his 1890 journey there. This wire is the earlier of two surviving exchanges with him in the corpus; the later one (13 November 1891) closes out a shipment from the following season.