Several colourful biographies dealt with her seemingly extraordinary adventures in Italy, but later it transpired (from her own diaries and notes) that much of Jacobi's life of that period has been heavily romanticised and to some extent mythologised.

[1] Upon her return from Italy Jacobi continued a successful career in journalism and became a regular contributor to Molva, Birzhevye Vedomosti, Nedelya and Novoye Vremya.

Although an active contributor, Leskov left some scathing remarks (albeit in private correspondence only) concerning this publication, once calling it "...stale old-fashion garbage, proved to be totally irrelevant... and full of hypocrisy.

"[4] Maxim Gorky and Kornei Chukovsky were also among the detractors, but Anatoly Kony, a renowned Russian lawyer of the time, praised Igrushechka for good language, high-quality translations and brilliant biographical pieces (on Alfred Tennison, Robert Fulton, George Stephenson, James Watt, Carl Linnaeus and Niccolò Paganini among many others), praising it for being a fine source of knowledge for the young readership, filled with the spirit of love, humanism and enlightenment.

[1] Jacobi edited three more publications, Na Pomoshch Materyam (На помощь матерям, Helping Mothers, 1894–1904), Zhenskoye Delo (Женское дело, Women's Cause, 1899–1900) and Krasnye Zori (Красные зори, Red Sunrise, 1911–1912).