About the book: 1949 / First published, with the subtitle "The Story of an Experienced Man", in the Samara Newspaper, 1895, number 154, July 20 and number 156, July 22. In a letter to S.P. Dorovatovsky on December 14, 1898, who at that time was preparing volume III of “Essays and Stories” for publication, Gorky wrote: “...among the stories I sent you for volume III, there is one entitled "Once Upon a Time in Autumn" Give it back to me; since it is of an autobiographical nature, I will have to change it and include it in what I am now working on for “Life.” Gorky was working at that time on the novel “Foma Gordeev,” but in the process of work, obviously, he abandoned the idea of ​​​​using “ Once in the Autumn" in the novel, and the story was included in the III volume of "Essays and Stories" ed. Dorovatovsky and Charushnikov 1899 and all collected works. The subtitle remained until the 1903 edition. Published according to the text prepared by Gorky for the collected works in the publication “Book».