An unknown autograph of F. M. Dostoevsky
(The letter to Successor Tsesarevich Alexander Alexandrovich)

The article examines the newly discovered autograph of the letter by F. M. Dostoevsky dated November 16, 1878 and addressed to Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich (the future Emperor Alexander III). The letter was located in the Archive of the Office of the Successor Tsesarevich of the Ministry of the Imperial Court. Dostoevsky appealed to Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich upon the recommendation of K. P. Pobedonostsev. In his letter, the writer requests permission to send to the august addressee issues of A Writer’s Diary, his personal periodical, and gives a general appraisal of the historical juncture in Russia at that time. The text of the letter was previously known through its rough draft, as well as through a document written by Anna Dostoevskaya and qualified as a “copy of the final version of the letter” by the publishers of the writer’s Complete Collected Works. However, a comparison between the presumed “copy” and the final autograph revealed certain textual discrepancies in the latter. It is more likely to be the text that the writer initially dictated to his wife, and which he subsequently amended and improved while writing the final version. The fact that the added details and corrections can be traced back to the rough draft allowed us to propose this hypothesis. In addition, the stamp of the Office of the Court of the Successor Tsesarevich on the letter addressed to Dostoevsky is published.