The museum exhibition contains a carefully preserved letter from Anton Pavlovich Chekhov to Nikolay Leikin. Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904) was a Russian writer of prose, a playwright, and a doctor. Nikolay Aleksandrovich Leikin (1841–1906) was a humourist, writer of fiction, and publisher and editor of the magazine Oskolki. Over the years of cooperation with the magazine — from 1882 to 1887, Chekhov published more than 270 works there. Chekhov’s first collection of short stories, Tales of Melpomene, was published in Oskolki in 1884 and consisted of six short stories united by a theatrical theme. This collection met with positive reviews from critics, although Chekhov himself did not speak very well of the stories. An amusing incident occurred with the collection: bookstore owners placed it in the children’s section, confused by the word ‘tales’ in the title.

In 1888, Chekhov was already very well known and popular writer. In a letter dated March 5, 1888, Leikin asked Chekhov to read some of his story in the hall of the Credit Society at a literary and musical evening in favor of the lodging houses. And Chekhov, in a reply letter of March 7, delicately refused the invitation in his characteristic ironic manner.

The writer’s work was constantly focused on the attention of critics and the reading public, who were looking forward to the publication of his new works.