2-548-122 - © Fine Art Images/Heritage Images

Russian author Anton Chekhov with family and friends, 1890. Chekhov (1860-1904) is regarded as one of Russia's finest playwrights and one of the greatest writers of short stories. He is pictured here shortly before departing on a trip to Sakhalin in the Russian Far East where he was to interview settlers and convicts in penal colonies for a census. He wrote about his experiences on the trip in The Island of Sakhalin, published in 1893-1894. From a private collection.