{"description": {"type": "/type/text", "value": "From the book:In 1841 a serf belonging to a Russian nobleman purchased his freedom and the freedom of his family for 3,500 roubles, being at the rate of 700 roubles a soul, with one daughter, Alexandra, thrown in for nothing. The grandson of this serf was Anton Chekhov, the author; the son of the nobleman was Tchertkov, the Tolstoyan and friend of Tolstoy.  There is in this nothing striking to a Russian, but to the English student it is sufficiently significant for several reasons. It illustrates how recent a growth was the educated middle-class in pre-revolutionary Russia, and it shows, what is perhaps more significant, the homogeneity of the Russian people, and their capacity for completely changing their whole way of life."}, "subtitle": "with biographical sketch", "covers": [12768918], "key": "/works/OL55422W", "authors": [{"author": {"key": "/authors/OL19677A"}, "type": {"key": "/type/author_role"}}], "title": "Letters of Anton Chekhov to his family and friends", "subjects": ["Correspondence", "Russian Authors", "Classic Literature", "Fiction", "Chekhov, anton pavlovich, 1860-1904", "Authors, russian", "Authors, correspondence"], "type": {"key": "/type/work"}, "first_sentence": {"type": "/type/text", "value": "I got your letter when I was fearfully bored and was sitting at the gate yawning, and so you can judge how welcome that immense letter was."}, "first_publish_date": "April 1, 2005", "excerpts": [{"excerpt": "I got your letter when I was fearfully bored and was sitting at the gate yawning, and so you can judge how welcome that immense letter was."}], "latest_revision": 19, "revision": 19, "created": {"type": "/type/datetime", "value": "2009-10-15T19:26:30.023841"}, "last_modified": {"type": "/type/datetime", "value": "2026-02-28T20:17:23.690839"}}