Fragment of a desk

A photo of a beautiful woman is lying on the table as well. This is Lika Mizinova. In her book, From The Distant Past, M.P. Chekhova devoted to Lidiya Stakhievna Mizinova a whole chapter entitled My Friend Lika. Maria Pavlovna remembers how they got acquainted at the gymnasium, how she brought Lika to her house and introduced her to the family: “Having got acquainted with our family, Lika became a frequent guest to our house, became our common friend and everyone’s favourite... When we lived in Melikhovo, Lika often stayed with us. We got used to her so much that even the parents missed her when she left us for a long time.” Lika was very beautiful. Writer V.I. Bibikov who also visited their house quite often wrote that he saw a “girl of extraordinary beauty” at the Chekhov’s place. Anton Pavlovich wrote a number of marvellous letters full of catching Chekhov’s humour and a kind of hidden sadness to “beautiful Lika”. On the foreground there is an envelope from a Vienna’s garden shop, a few stamps and the writer’s pince-nez.