To A. S. Suvorin, 6 August 1891. Bogimovo.

A short, high-spirited letter of 6 August 1891 from Bogimovo, the Kaluga province estate where the Chekhov family was summering, to Chekhov’s publisher and close correspondent Aleksei Sergeyevich Suvorin: dateline, short-form date, a joking reproof of Suvorin’s doctor, a mock threat about visiting Suvorin should he fall ill, a wry reflection on the death of a servant, a one-line joke about the dog Nikolai’s illness (in French), a report on the slow progress of a story in hand, news of the "astronomer-lady" guest and Suvorin’s meddling, a note on his brother Alexander’s improving journalism, a resigned reflection on his own unimprovable circumstances, remarks on the weather and the timing of a possible visit, a teasing aside about a shared estate scheme, a closing note on mushrooms and regards, a valediction, and the signature.

Chekhov opens by defending Suvorin’s doctor against Suvorin’s evident complaints – the man’s only fault was excessive attentiveness, which Chekhov calls simple greed – then threatens that if Suvorin sends for him when ill, he will find him perfectly healthy and charge a hundred rubles anyway, refusing in advance to pack him off to Simferopol. He muses on how a servant’s death oppresses a household out of proportion to the attention paid the person in life, then reports that "Nikolai" – the household’s dog – had a twisted gut, capping the item with a French aside. He describes the difficult, over-revised state of a story he is finishing (almost certainly a reference to ongoing summer work. the story anxieties in), despairing comically that his own writing may please readers as little as other authors’ work pleases him. He then turns to Olga Kundasova, the mathematician-astronomer friend of Chekhov’s circle whom he calls the "astronomka" throughout this correspondence, reporting her visit and her irritation at Suvorin for having forwarded Chekhov’s address to her with a teasing romantic inscription; Chekhov protests, in the same bantering key, that "astronomer-ladies" flying beneath the heavens can hardly be suspected of earthly feelings. He adds a brief note that his brother Alexander Pavlovich seems to be improving as a journalist, reflects fatalistically that his own circumstances cannot really be bettered, short of a miracle-cure he lacks the strength for, and turns to practical matters – the heat, household expenses, the Moscow apartment – before naming 16 August as the earliest he can discuss a possible visit to Suvorin in Feodosia. A joking aside about becoming Suvorin’s neighbor on an estate and extracting fines for trespassing livestock closes the substantive portion, followed by a note on the summer’s abundant mushrooms, regards, and the signature.