He was especially interested in foreign works such as Robinson Crusoe and David Copperfield.

Nikolay Gogol's novel Dead Souls also made a deep impression on him.

At the age of thirteen Albov's story The Memoirs of an Underground Lodger was published by the Peterburgsky Listok (St Petersburg News).

After this success, he left school to focus on his literary efforts.

He then studied at Saint Petersburg State University, where he graduated from the Faculty of Law in 1879.