To I. P. Chekhov, 13 March 1891. Petersburg.
И. П. ЧЕХОВУ, 13 марта 1891 г. Петербург.
Headnote
A short, high-spirited letter of 13 March 1891, from Petersburg, to Chekhov’s brother Ivan Pavlovich ("Ivan," a schoolteacher). It announces the trip abroad that had been under discussion for weeks: the long-planned journey to Western Europe with Alexei Sergeyevich Suvorin, Chekhov’s publisher and patron, and Suvorin’s son Alexei Alexeyevich, is now fixed to depart no later than 15 March, with Vienna and Venice as the first stops and a return by Easter. This is Chekhov’s first trip outside the Russian Empire.
Chekhov jokes about the tedium of the 72-hour rail journey to Vienna, reports one more shipment of books (2,200 volumes) sent to the Sakhalin schools – a project he had been pushing since his return from the island the previous winter – and signs off with a brief, warm closing, promising to write again once he reaches Venice.