Anton Pavlovich Chekhov |
Here is a list of digital editions of the works of Anton Chekhov (1860-1904). All of his major plays and short stories are in the public domain and available for free.
Between 1916 and 1922, a 13-volume set containing 201 short stories by Anton Chekhov and translated by Constance Garnett was published in the UK and the US. The good news is that the complete set is available for free digitally. The bad news is that the stories aren’t sequenced chronologically and the distribution of Chekhov masterpieces per volume is uneven. Chekhov’s most important stories were generally written after 1886, and appear in the first eight or nine volumes. Fortunately. a few of the volumes are well curated anthologies that make for good reading. Volume one is a well rounded collection that makes a great introduction to his work, volume five has more than a few great stories, and volume six is a particularly well edited collection of mostly peasant-themed stories. If you’re a stickler for chronological order, here’s a link where you can read all 201 stories in order.
I used Wikipedia’s list of Chekhov short stories and a list from the University of Adelaide to date each work. Charles W. Meister’s Chekhov Criticism:1880 Through 1986 (McFarland & Co., 1988) was also helpful. This bibliography of Garnett’s translations helped me to date the publication of each volume. The short story collections are ordered by the year in which the English translations appeared with the date of original Russian publication indicated for each story. (*) denotes key works.
Plays
Ivanoff (1897) tr. uncredited
The Sea-Gull (1896)* tr. uncredited
Uncle Vanya (1899/1900)* tr. uncredited
Swan Song (1887) tr. Marian Fell
Plays by Anton Chekhov, Second Series (19??) tr. Julius West
On the High Road (1884)
The Proposal (1886/89)
The Wedding (1889)
The Bear (1888)
A Tragedian in Spite of Himself (1889)
The Anniversary (18??)
The Three Sisters (1901)*
The Cherry Orchard (1904)*
Short Fiction
The Tales of Anton Chekhov Vols. 1-13
Volume 1: The Darling & Other Stories (1916)
“The Darling” (1898)*
“Ariadne” (1895)*
“Polinka” (1887)
“Anyuta” (1886)
“The Two Volodyas” (1893)*
“The Trousseau” (1883)
“The Helpmate” (1895)
“Talent” (1886)
“An Artist’s Story” (1896)*
“Three Years” (1895)*
Volume 2: The Duel & Other Stories (1916)
“The Duel” (1891)*
“Excellent People” (1886)
“Mire” (1886)
“Neighbours” (1892)
“At Home”(1897)
“Expensive Lessons” (1887)
“The Princess” (1889)
“The Chemist’s Wife” (1886)
Volume 3: The Lady with the Dog & Other Stories (1917)
“The Lady with the Dog” (1899)*
“A Doctor’s Visit” (1898)
“An Upheaval” (1886)
“Ionitch” (1898)*
“The Head of the Family” (1885)
“The Black Monk” (1894)*
“Volodya” (1887)*
“An Anonymous Story” (1893)*
“The Husband” (1886)
Volume 4: The Party & Other Stories (1917)
“The Party” (1888)*
“Terror” (1892)
“A Woman’s Kingdom” (1894)*
“A Problem” (1887)
“The Kiss” (1887)*
“’Anna on the Neck’” (1895)*
“The Teacher of Literature” (1894)*
“Not Wanted” (1886)
“Typhus” (1887)*
“A Misfortune” (1886)
“A Trifle from Life” (1886)
Volume 5: The Wife & Other Stories (1918)
“The Wife” (1892)*
“Difficult People”(1886)
“The Grasshopper” (1892)*
“A Dreary Story” (1889)*
“The Privy Councillor” (1886)
“A Man in a Case” (1898)*
“Gooseberries” (1898)*
“About Love” (1898)*
“The Lottery Ticket” (1887)*
Volume 6: The Witch & Other Stories (1918)
“The Witch” (1886)*
“Peasant Wives” (1891)*
“The Post” (1887)
“The New Villa” (1899)*
“Dreams” (1886)
“The Pipe” (1887)
“Agafya” (1886)
“At Christmas Time” (1899)
“Gusev” (1890)*
“The Student” (1894)*
“In the Ravine” (1900)*
“The Huntsman” (1885)*
“Happiness” (1887)
“A Malefactor” (1885)
“Peasants” (1897)*
Volume 7: The Bishop & Other Stories (1919)
“The Bishop” (1902)*
“The Letter” (1887)
“Easter Eve” (1886)
“A Nightmare” (1886)
“The Murder” (1895)
“Uprooted” (1887)
“The Steppe” (1888)*
Volume 8: The Chorus Girl & Other Stories (1920)
“The Chorus Girl” (1886)
“Verotchka” (1887)
“My Life at a Country House” (1896)
“A Father” (1887)
“On the Road” (1886)
“Rothschild’s Fiddle” (1894)
“Ivan Matveyitch Zinotchka” (1886)
“Bad Weather” (1887)
“A Gentleman Friend” (1886)
“A Trivial Incident” (1886)
Volume 9: The Schoolmistress & Other Stories (1920)
“The Schoolmistress” (1897)*
“A Nervous Breakdown” (1888)
“Misery” (1886)
“Champagne” (1886)
“After the Theatre” (1892)
“A Lady’s Story” (1887)
“In Exile” (1892)*
“The Cattle-Dealers” (1887)
“Sorrow” (1885)
“On Official Duty” (1899)
“The First-Class Passenger” (1886)
“A Tragic Actor” (1883)
“A Transgression” (1887)
“Small Fry” (1885)
“The Requiem” (1886)
“In the Coach-House” (1887)
“Panic Fears” (1886)
“The Bet” (1889)*
“The Head-Gardener’s Story” (1894)
“The Beauties” (1888)
“The Shoemaker” (1888)
Volume 10: The Horse-Stealers & Other Stories (1921)
“The Horse-Stealers” (1890)
“Ward No. 6” (1892)*
“The Petchenyeg” (1897)
“A Dead Body” (1885)
“A Happy Ending” (1887)
“The Looking-Glass” (1885)
“Old Age” (1885)
“Darkness” (1887)
“The Beggar” (1887)
“A Story Without a Title” (1888)*
“In Trouble” (1887)
“Frost” (1887)
“A Slander” (1883)
“Minds in Ferment” (1884)
“Gone Astray” (1885)
“An Avenger” (1887)
“The Jeune Premier” (1886)
“A Defenceless Creature” (1887)
“An Enigmatic Nature” (1883)
“A Happy Man” (1886)
“A Troublesome Visitor” (1886)
“An Actor’s End” (1886)
Volume 11: The Schoolmaster & Other Stories (1921)
“The Schoolmaster” (1886)
“Enemies” (1887)
“The Examining Magistrate” (1887)
“Betrothed” (1903)
“From the Diary of a Violent-Tempered Man” (1887)
“In the Dark” (1886)
“A Play” (1887)
“A Mystery” (1886)
“Strong Impressions” (1886)
“Drunk” (1887)
“The Marshal’s Widow” (1885)
“A Bad Business” (1887)
“In the Court” (1886)
“Boots” (1882-85)
“Joy” (1883)
“Ladies” (1886)
“A Peculiar Man” (1886)
“At the Barber’s” (1883)
“An Inadvertence” (1887)
“The Album” (1884)
“Oh! The Public!" (1885)
“A Tripping Tongue” (1886)
“Overdoing It” (1885)
“The Orator” (1886)
“Malingerers” (1885)
“In the Graveyard” (1884)
“Hush!” (1886)
“In an Hotel” (1882-85)
“In a Strange Land” (1885)
Volume 12: The Cook’s Wedding & Other Stories (1922)
“The Cook’s Wedding” (1885)
“Sleepy” (1888)
“Children” (1886)
“The Runaway” (1887)
“Grisha” (1886)
“Oysters” (1884)
“Home” (1887)
“A Classical Student” (1883)
“Vanka” (1886)*
“An Incident” (1886)
“A Day in the Country” (1886)
“Boys” (1887)
“Shrove Tuesday” (1887)
“The Old House” (1887)
“In Passion Week” (1887)
“Whitebrow” (1895)
“Kashtanka” (1887)
“A Chameleon” (1884)
“The Dependents” (1886)
“Who Was to Blame?” (1886)
“The Bird Market” (1883)
“An Adventure” (1887)
“The Fish” (1885)
“Art” (1886)
“The Swedish Match” (1884)
Volume 13: Love & Other Stories (1922)
“Love” (1886)
“Lights” (1888)
“A Story Without an End” (1886)
“Mari D’Elle” (1885)
“A Living Chattel” (1882)
“The Doctor” (1887)
“Too Early!” (1887)
“The Cossack” (1887)
“Aboriginies” (1887)
“An Inquiry” (1883)
“Marytrs” (1886)
“The Lion and the Sun” (1887)
“A Daughter of Albion” (1883)
“Choirsters” (1884)
“Nerves” (1885)
“A Work of Art” (1886)
“A Joke” (1885)
“A Country Cottage” (1885)
“A Blunder” (1886)
“Fat and Thin” (1883)
“The Death of a Government Clerk” (1883)
“A Pink Stocking” (1886)
“At a Summer Villa” (1886)
And just for good measure, here’s one more collection of short stories and a lone short story from different translators:
The House with the Mezzanine & Other Stories (1917) tr. S. S. Koteliansky & G.Cannan
“The House with the Mezzanine” (1896) (“An Artist’s Story”)*
“Typhus” (1887)*
“Gooseberries” (1898)*
“In Exile” (1892)*
“The Lady With The Toy Dog” (1899)*
“Goussiev” (1890)*
“My Life” (1896)*
“My Life” (1896)*
"The Slanderer” (1901) tr. Herman Bernstein
And if you still can’t get enough of Chekhov, you can even read his notebook.
Note-Book of Anton Chekhov (1921) trans. by S. S. Koteliansky and Leonard Woolf
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If you read and enjoy ebooks prepared by Project Gutenberg and the Internet Archive, please make a donation today. Their efforts ensure that there are plenty of free ebooks in the world to read and they make this blog possible.
Wow!Thank you very much for this.
ReplyDeleteYou're very welcome.
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