Indicating a place by an initial in 19th century novel

I've seen this many times and have never understood why it was a practice. Does anyone happen to know?

Today I came across an example in this passage from The Brothers Karamazov:

"I have an old friend, a lawyer in K. province, and I heard through a trustworthy man that if I were to go he'd give me a place as clerk in his office, so, who knows, maybe he would."

It appears to be some conventional usage and I've never been able to understand why. Here it's used in a quote, but it usually is not. It might appear to be a legal formality, but it's difficult to see how naming a locality in an innocuous context could have resulted in any exposure to legal action. Especially since I've seen it used by authors from very different countries.

In any event, I thought given the erudite folks here on bww, someone might have an explanation.

I've tried googling using various germane search terms to no avail.

Updated On: 3/15/12 at 04:23 PM

I also wondered if it was a style favored during a specific period by the English that would be a result of the particular translation. For instance, in this case, perhaps it doesn't occur in the original Russian text, but only in that particular English translation as opposed to another later translation.

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Or did you mean did only English writers do it?

I don't think so. I think it's a convention of the period more than of a particular country. I'm pretty sure French writers did it as well.

I'm sure I've seen it used by French writers as well.

Thanks to everyone. And thanks, Mysterious, for the informative link.

^huh?