Anton Chekhov in philately

Collective material in the field of philately of Chekhov includes postal administrations of the world in honor of the great writer, with his portraits , mention of his name, literary works, and also dedicated to the places where he lived, worked or visited, the museums of Anton Chekhov ( for example, the State Literary-Memorial Museum-Reserve of A.P. Chekhov ) and organizations bearing his name (for example, the Moscow Art Theater named after A.P. Chekhov ).

In addition to postage stamps, philatelic material on the Chekhov theme also includes artistic stamped envelopes , postal cards , card cards , special markings , first day envelopes , whole things and calendar stamps .

A.P. Chekhov is well known as a collector of postage stamps. The collection of stamps collected by the writer contains about 15 thousand copies and is kept in the Chekhov House-Museum in Yalta . It consists of postage stamps taken from envelopes , and therefore the Chekhov collection includes many duplicates ^[1] .

The study of the Chekhov's collection was conducted by the staff of the House-Museum. It consists of 30 packs of postage stamps and 142 separate postal signs belonging to the writer ^[2] . Chekhov tied up the stamps in stacks with a thread (similarly he collected stamps and Alexander III ) ^[3] . For many decades, the contents of the packs, in accordance with the museum rules, remained unexamined. In one of the publications, the chief curator of the House-Museum, Yu.N. Skobelev (1939–1999), gives the following description of the collection ^[4] :

The identification of Chekhov's stamps was carried out by the museum's senior researcher Marina Sosenkova, who from 1997 to 1999 disassembled about 1000 marks (out of three packs).

Although the writer compiled and personally packaged a large and diverse collection of stamps at the time, it is difficult to judge Chekhov as a philatelist. His passion was more likely due to Chekhov’s personal qualities - curiosity, commitment to systematizing knowledge, accuracy - and allowing him to escape from the troubles of life. There is no doubt that picking up stamps was an important part of Chekhov’s life and could be used by him in the search for subjects for his works. In his notebooks, for example, the phrase was found: “The young man collected a million marks, lay down on them and shot himself” ^{[6] [7] [8]} .

It is also known that Chekhov was involved in the organization of the postal and telegraph department at Lopasnya station (now the city of Chekhov, Moscow region ) ^[9] . In addition, in some stories by Anton Chekhov, the action takes place in the post office or is associated with mail ( At the Post Office , 1883; My Talk with the Postmaster , 1886; Mail , 1887).

The series of the first postage stamps dedicated to A. P. Chekhov was released in the USSR in February 1940 to the 80th anniversary of the writer's birth. The four miniatures depicted his portraits: on stamps with a denomination of 10 kopecks ( CFA [ ITC “Mark” ] No. 720) and 15 kopecks ( TsFA [ ITC “Mark” ] No. 721) - according to a photograph from 1898, with a nominal of 20 kopecks ( CFA [ ITC “Mark” ] No. 722) and 30 kopecks ( CFA [ ITC “Mark” ] No. 723) - according to the painting by A. Ivanitsky .

In the Soviet Union there were other brands in honor of the classic Russian literature :

• 1954 - 50th anniversary of the death ( CFA [ ITC “Mark” ] No. 1780)
• 1959 - A.P. Chekhov, the story “The Man in the Case ” (illustration by Kukryniksy ); from the “Writers” series ( CFA [ ITC “Mark” ] No. 2292)
• 1960–100 years of birth ( CFA [ ITC “Mark” ] No. 2391–2392)

Among the numerous envelopes and other collection materials of the Soviet time, we can mention, for example, an artistic marked envelope, issued on October 10, 1959 (No. 1067), with a portrait of the prose writer by artist A.I. Kalashnikov ^[10] . A one-sided postcard with the original stamp and special postmarks were also devoted to the Chekhov theme ^[8] .

A scene from the play “The Seagull” by the Moscow Art Theater named after A.P. Chekhov (Chekhov's play, 1898) is depicted on the Russian stamp dedicated to Meyerhold and Stanislavsky from the series “ Russia . XX century. Culture (2000).

The publishing and trading center “Marka” published artistic marked envelopes: “ Taganrog . Monument to A.P. Chekhov "(1996)," Taganrog. Central City Public Library named after A.P. Chekhov "(1996)," Taganrog. Museum “House of A.P. Chekhov ” (1999) and others.

In connection with the 140th anniversary of the birth of the great writer - countryman Taganrog branch of the Union of Philatelists of Russia together with the Department of Culture of the City Administration prepared two unmarked postcards with the image of the Chekhovs' house and with a reproduction of the portrait of Anton Pavlovich, located in the Literary Museum of the city and written in 1892 photo years ^[8] .

In 2004, a permanent (transferable) special postmark “Taganrog - the birthplace of A.P. Chekhov ” (No. 34ш-2004), which is used in Taganrog, Rostov Region , was issued. Its author is the artist A. Bzhelenko ^[11] .

In 2010, the Russian Post released two postal blocks dedicated to the 150th anniversary of Chekhov ^[12] .

Postage stamps dedicated to A. P. Chekhov were issued in the following foreign countries:

• Czechoslovakia - 1954 ( Mi # 871, 872; Sc # 665, 666) ,
• Romania - 1960 ( Mi # 1896; Sc # 1346) ,
• Gambia 2001 ( Mi # 4159; Sc # 2390f)
• San Marino - 2004 ( Mi # 2171; Sc # 1613) ,
• Monaco - 2010 ^[13] ( Mi # 2969; Yt # 2715) ,
• Vatican - 2010 ^[14] ( Mi # 1681; Yt # 1538) ,
• Abkhazia - 2010
• Sri Lanka - 2015 ( Mi # 2054; Yt # 2001) ,

• Maldives - 2018 ( Mi # 7595) .

In addition, in Belarus, in 2001, a one-sided postal card was issued with the original stamp , which captured a scene from a play based on the Chekhov play “Three Sisters” ( Mi #Ganzsachen: PSo 16) . In Ukraine, in 2003, an artistic envelope with a depiction of a monument to Anton Chekhov in Yalta (No. 622) was prepared, and in 2010 another envelope was issued - “The Belaya Dacha” House-Museum of A.P. Chekhov, with a portrait of the writer ^{[ 15]} .

Collecting stamps and other philatelic materials about Chekhov can be one of the independent areas of thematic collecting or a section of collections devoted to Russian and world literature , writers or doctors .

In January 2000, the philatelic collection of G. N. Orlov's “ A. P. Chekhov : Years of Life and Creativity” ^{[8] was} exhibited in Taganrog in the exhibition hall of the Central City Public Library named after A.P. Chekhov . Gennady Orlov is the chairman of the Taganrog branch of the Union of Philatelists of Russia, and his collection has repeatedly received major awards at All-Russian philatelic competitions. In 2004, Orlov successfully demonstrated his collection in Badenweiler (Germany) - the city where Chekhov spent his last days, and in 2005 - again in Taganrog, in the Central City Public Library ^[3] .

From January 30 to May 31, 2019 in the Museum of Letters of AP Chekhov was opened philatelic exhibition "Postage Chekhoviana." Numerous postal publications related to A.P. Chekhov: illustrated open letters and postcards, many of which came out shortly after the writer's death (the plot of the postcards became pictorial portraits and photographs of the writer, view postcards depicting Chekhovian places, “theater postcards”, the plot of which was scenes from plays of the Moscow Art Theater according to plays A. P. Chekhov); domestic and foreign brands and brand blocks; envelopes with portraits of A.P. Chekhov, places associated with the stay of the writer: Taganrog, Moscow, Melikhovo , Sumy, Sakhalin; commemorative stamps, exlibris . Some of the exhibits were presented from the funds of the Melikhovo Museum, and the exhibition was supplemented by unique items collected by Chekhov's collector O.V. Muslakov (who became a philatelist after visiting the Museum of Letters of AP Chekhov ).

• Thematic Philately
• Chekhov, Anton Pavlovich

Publications in periodicals

• Oktyabrskaya R. About Chekhov the Philatelist // City. - Taganrog, 2000. - January 29 - p. 3.
• Orlov G. “... And stamps for the soul” // Taganrogskaya Pravda . - 2000. - Jan. 29 [Similar material was published by this author in the Russian Mail - Print Distribution journal, No. 1, 2000.]

Catalogs

• Stamps of the Country of the Soviets: a catalog of postage stamps of the RSFSR and the USSR from 1917 to 1992. Digital catalogue. CD-ROM. - M .: MediaHouse; Com.Media, 2005. [The electronic catalog is based on the specialized catalog-reference book “Postage stamps of Russia and the USSR (1857–1991) ...” V. Yu. Solovyov, published since 1996.]
• Michel-Katalog Europa. Bd. 1. Mitteleuropa 2006. - Unterschleißheim: Schwaneberger Verlag GmbH, 2006. - 1151 S. - ISBN 3-87858-691-4 . (him)
• Scott 2007. Standard Postage Stamp Catalog. - New York, NY, USA: Scott, 2006. (English)
• Yvert et Tellier - Catalog of stamps, is one of the recognized international philatelic directories , which ranks with Michael , Scott , and Stanley Gibbons catalog publications.

• "Chekhov Anton Pavlovich (1860-1904)" - a list of stamps, special guarantees, envelopes and postal cards in the philatelic catalog-reference book "Classical literature / Plots" on the website of Dmitry Karasyuk "Philatelia.Ru".
• The philatelic exhibition “Postal Chekhoviana” - information on the official site of the Museum-Reserve A.P. Chekhov "Melikhovo"