Thanks to the photographs showing the apartment in Nashchokinsky Lane from the time when the Bulgakovs’ lived there, it is known that this table stood in the hallway. Above it hung a large mirror in a richly decorated, carved frame. The hallway was small but cozy.

The hallway led to a corridor where books were stacked from floor to ceiling. Bulgakov’s literary interests were diverse: from Pavel Florensky’s “Imaginaries in Geometry” to the magazines “The Historical Reporter” and “Russian Antiquity”. In addition to the works of classics and contemporary authors, Bulgakov had many reference books, encyclopedias and dictionaries on his shelves. He also owned books by 19th-century authors, who were not always known to a wide range of readers, whom Mikhail Bulgakov, however, knew very well.

The writer’s third wife, Elena Bulgakova, wrote in her diary on September 15, 1934,

Mikhail Bulgakov’s library has been almost completely lost, but nevertheless it is possible to determine quite accurately which sources the writer turned to when working on his novel “The Master and Margarita”. Most likely, there was a book in the library, “The History of People’s Dealings with the Devil, ” written by Vladimir Orlov in 1908. This was the very book that became a source of information about demonology for the writer.

For example, in order to be precise in the details when writing the Yershalaim chapters, Bulgakov had to study a wide range of historical materials. So, when Pontius Pilate first appeared in the novel, the writer mentions a parchment,

For this small scene, Bulgakov researched the writing techniques of that era based on data from Mikhail Shchelkunov’s book “The Art of Printing”. As a result, it is the parchment, not the papyrus, that is put into Pontius Pilate’s hand.

“He was a passionate reader, from his early years. He read a lot, and with his absolutely exceptional memory, he remembered a lot of what he read and absorbed everything…” — from the memoirs of the writer’s sister Nadezhda Afanasyevna Zemskaya.

After the writer’s death, Elena Bulgakova took this table to her new apartment and treated the guests to masterfully brewed coffee at it.