[1] Ransome says in a note at the beginning that "The stories in this book are those that Russian peasants tell their children and each other", and that it was written for "English children who play in deep lanes with wild roses above them in the high hedges, or by the small singing becks that dance down the grey fells at home".

Publication of his book was delayed, and he thought that the publishers did not expect to sell more than the 2,000 copies of their initial print run.

[4] Hugh Brogan wrote that the book was an "indubitable literary success.

[5] Old Peter's Russian Tales was republished by the Arthur Ransome Trust in December, 2016.

[6] together with The War of the Birds and the Beasts (renamed The Battle of the Birds and the Beasts at Hugh Brogan's suggestion), thereby creating the first combined edition of Arthur Ransome's Russian folk tales.