Book publisher M.V. Sabashnikov (1871-1943) left memories in which the events of his private, family life and, at the same time, the public life of Russia at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries intertwined. M.V. Sabashnikov, with talent and great personal labor, achieved the highest professionalism and success in everything he undertook, be it gold mining enterprises, sugar business or publishing, the construction of the University named after A. A. Shanyavsky or the organization of assistance to the wounded and refugees during World War I. The author reveals his gift as a memoirist just as vividly in Notes.