I. M. Kondratyev

Reading notes

• To A. N. Pleshcheyev, 31 March 1888. Moscow. §18 I. M. Kondratyev

  Agent of the Society of Russian Dramatic Writers and Opera Composers, who confirmed the fee had been sent in full on 26 March. Distinct from the writer Ivan Kuzmich Kondratyev and from the unrelated Moscow contact, both of whom appear elsewhere in Chekhov's correspondence.

• To I. M. Kondratyev, 28 February 1889. Moscow. §4 Ivan Maksimovich!

  NON-CONFLATION FLAG -- this is Ivan Maksimovich Kondratyev, already established in this corpus via as "the agent of the Dramatic Society" (the Society of Russian Dramatic Writers and Opera Composers), who there confirmed a fee payment to Alexei Alexeyevich. This letter's request that he "prepare my bill" (\S5) is consistent with that same royalties/fee-collecting role -- almost certainly a statement of fees owed for performances of Chekhov's plays (see e.g.), not an ordinary household invoice. He must NOT be confused with, Ivan Kuzmich Kondratyev (1849-1904), the unrelated minor Moscow writer addressed in about a Savrasov painting -- the two share only the surname and the initial "I."; the patronymics differ (Maksimovich vs. Kuzmich) and the correspondences are unrelated in subject. Nor should he be confused with, an unrelated Moscow business contact from 1886 whom Kiseleva's brother had trouble finding at home.

• To I. M. Kondratyev, 28 February 1889. Moscow. §5 Be so good as to prepare my bill and, if possible, send it to me by post

  The "bill" (счёт) requested here is the routine, practical occasion for this brief note; given Kondratyev's established role as the Dramatic Society's fee agent (see the \S4 note), this is most plausibly a statement of royalties/performance fees owed to Chekhov rather than a personal household account.

• To I. M. Kondratyev, 5 March 1889. Moscow. §4 Ivan Maksimovich!

  This is Ivan Maksimovich Kondratyev, the same correspondent as in (28 February 1889), already established there as the Society of Russian Dramatic Writers and Opera Composers' agent handling a catalogue of Chekhov's plays and the royalties owed him for their performances. This letter's correction of a performance count for "The Bear" (\S5) is direct confirmation of that role. See the headnote and glossary for the fuller disambiguation from (Ivan Kuzmich Kondratyev, the different, unrelated addressee of) and from.

• To I. M. Kondratyev, 18 May 1889. Sumy. §4 Ivan Maksimovich!

  NON-CONFLATION FLAG -- this is Ivan Maksimovich Kondratyev, the Society of Russian Dramatic Writers and Opera Composers' agent already established in this corpus via, and as handling Chekhov's performance royalties and a catalogue of his plays. This letter's request that two plays be entered into what is evidently that same catalogue continues that role directly. He must NOT be confused with, Ivan Kuzmich Kondratyev (1849-1904), the unrelated minor Moscow writer addressed in about a Savrasov painting -- the two share only the surname and the initial "I."; the patronymics differ (Maksimovich vs. Kuzmich).

• To I. M. Kondratyev, 28 December 1889. Moscow. §13 NOTES

  The hinge point of the two-part structure: everything from here to the end of the document (sections 13-58) is the printed edition's own scholarly apparatus for Volume 3, not part of the letter proper. It falls into the same four parts as the Volume 2 back matter: an abbreviations key for archival repositories (sections 15-23), a bibliography of roughly twenty printed sources cited by short title (sections 24-43), a substantial editorial afterword on the volume's literary and biographical contents (sections 44-53), and the volume's closing editorial credits (sections 54-58).

• To I. M. Kondratyev, 28 December 1889. Moscow. §51 to I. M. Kondratyev of 28 December 1889 (printed in the collection "Voprosy teatra"

  The afterword's own bibliographic note for this letter's first publication -- explicitly identifying it as one of several letters not previously included in earlier collected editions, printed for the first time in "Voprosy teatra" (VTO, Moscow, 1966), thirteen years before this Volume 3 edition. The afterword is here describing, in the third person, the very letter that precedes it in this same document.

• To I. M. Kondratyev, 15 September 1891. Moscow. §4 Be so good as not to refuse to prepare and send me my bill by post.

  I. M. Kondratyev (Ivan Maksimovich), agent of the Society of Russian Dramatic Writers and Opera Composers, who collected and disbursed the performance royalties owed to Chekhov for his plays. This is the third such request in the corpus and repeats, almost verbatim, the wording of the first: "Be so good as to prepare my bill and, if possible, send it to me by post" (28 February 1889) -- the same standing administrative arrangement, unremarkable enough by 1891 to need no further explanation, sandwiched between a Christmas letter of theatrical business (28 December 1889) and this brief note. What is new here is only the reason given for not calling in person: illness.

• To I. M. Kondratyev, 22 February 1892. Moscow. §3 Much-esteemed Ivan Maksimovich, be so good as to prepare a bill for me.

  NON-CONFLATION FLAG -- this is Ivan Maksimovich Kondratyev, agent of the Society of Russian Dramatic Writers and Opera Composers, already established in this corpus from and addressed with the identical "Ivan Maksimovich" formula and identical request ("prepare my bill") at (28 February 1889). As there, the "bill" is almost certainly a statement of performance royalties/fees owed to Chekhov, not an ordinary household invoice. He must NOT be confused with the corpus's four other, unrelated Kondratyevs: (Ivan Kuzmich Kondratyev, the minor Moscow writer of, differing patronymic), (Alexei Mikhailovich Kondratyev, a different first name and patronymic), (an unrelated 1886 Moscow business contact), and (an unresolved committee-context Kondratyev). Only shares both the initials "I. M." and the theatrical-royalties context across this letter and.

• To I. M. Kondratyev, 28 January 1890. Petersburg. §3 Much-esteemed Ivan Maksimovich!

  Ivan Maksimovich Kondratyev, addressee, already Chekhov's regular contact for theatrical business as agent of the Society of Russian Dramatic Writers and Opera Composers; here he appears to be acting for -- or at least being kept informed by -- the separate Moscow Society of Art and Literature as well, receiving Chekhov's notice of consent on its behalf. The salutation "Mnogouvazhaemy" ("Much-esteemed"), warmer than the strictly formal "Milostivy gosudar'" used to the unfamiliar Kozhin in, reflects their existing working relationship.

• To I. M. Kondratyev, 1891. Paris. §4 Ivan Maksimovich!

  NON-CONFLATION FLAG -- this is Ivan Maksimovich Kondratyev, the Society of Russian Dramatic Writers and Opera Composers official already established at (14 February 1891), where Chekhov formally notified him of a two-year Directorate contract for "The Proposal," and further back at, and, where he handled royalty statements and fee corrections. This brief note's request for a "statement of account" (\S5) continues that same administrative, fee-collecting role. He must not be confused with (Alexei Mikhailovich Kondratyev, the warmer, informal box-office contact of), (Ivan Kuzmich Kondratyev, the unrelated minor Moscow writer of), or (an unrelated 1886 Moscow business contact) -- none share Kondratyev's patronymic here, "Maksimovich."

• To I. M. Kondratyev, 1891. Paris. §5 a statement of account

  The "счет" (bill/statement of account) requested here is, per Kondratyev's established role as the Society's fee agent, almost certainly a further statement of performance royalties owed to Chekhov -- the same kind of document requested in and corrected in the/ thread -- rather than a personal household invoice.