person
Mikhailov
also: Михайлов
An acquaintance of Lazarev-Gruzinsky's whom Chekhov hoped might lend him up to 1,500 rubles toward the estate purchase that became Melikhovo, raised in this 2 February 1892 letter ("If you were not joking when you spoke to me about Mikhailov..."); unidentified beyond the surname. The follow-up letter of 18 February 1892 to the same addressee reports that borrowing 500-1000 rubles proved nearly impossible for a writer, evidently closing out this loan attempt, though it does not name Mikhailov directly.
Reading notes
- To A. S. Lazarev, 2 February 1892. Moscow. §3 If you were not joking when you spoke to me about Mikhailov
An acquaintance of Lazarev-Gruzinsky's, otherwise unidentified, whom Chekhov hopes might lend him up to 1,500 rubles to help finance the estate purchase. The later letter to the same addressee, 18 February 1892, reports the effort essentially failed -- Chekhov concedes it is "very difficult and almost impossible for a writer like us to borrow 500-1,000 rubles" -- without naming Mikhailov directly, but evidently closing out this thread.
- To A. S. Lazarev, 18 February 1892. Moscow. §3 it is very difficult, almost impossible, for the likes of us literary men to borrow 500 to 1,000 rubles
Closes out, without naming him, the loan attempt Chekhov raised with Lazarev-Gruzinsky in the earlier letter of 2 February 1892, where he asked Lazarev to sound out an acquaintance, Mikhailov, about lending up to 1,500 rubles toward the Melikhovo estate purchase. Here Chekhov reports the effort essentially failed, framing it as vindication of a warning he says he gave Lazarev beforehand.