person
Stepan Pavlovich Ilovaisky
Ilovaisky
also: Иловайский, управляющий Иловайский, Степан Павлович Иловайский, Его прев Степану Павловичу Иловайскому, His Excellency Stepan Pavlovich Ilovaisky
Manager of the government stud farm at Selo Khrenovoye in Voronezh province; host to Chekhov's famine-relief party for a day in early February 1892 (amateur theatricals, a tour of the farm, tea and conversation). Addressed as "His Excellency" in the companion letter, indicating a senior civil or military rank. Not to be confused with the historian (Dmitry Ivanovich Ilovaisky), an unrelated homonym.
Reading notes
- To F. O. Shekhtel, 8 February 1892. Selo Khrenovoye. §3 His Excellency Stepan Pavlovich Ilovaisky
"Его прев" abbreviates \foreignlanguage{russian}{"Его превосходительство"} ("His Excellency"), the mandatory form of address for a civil or military official of the 4th through 3rd class in the imperial Table of Ranks (roughly major-general/actual state councillor and above). Used here without irony, as a plain postal-address courtesy rather than the mock-formal joking honorifics Chekhov applies elsewhere to friends or pets; it marks Ilovaisky as a person of real standing, not otherwise identified in the letter beyond his role as the local recipient at Selo Khrenovoye.
- To M. P. Chekhova, 9 February 1892. Bobrov. §4 with the manager Ilovaisky
Inferred to be Stepan Pavlovich Ilovaisky, named and addressed as "His Excellency" (indicating a senior civil or military rank) in the companion letter (8 February 1892, to Shekhtel), sent from the same location, Selo Khrenovoye, the day before this one. High-confidence identification on place and date; the two letters do not cross-reference each other explicitly. Not to be confused with the historian Dmitry Ivanovich Ilovaisky, an unrelated homonym who appears elsewhere in the corpus.