[1][2] His close friend Korney Chukovsky recalled, that in 1905 Grzhebin returned to Russia as poor as a church mouse and with no social connections, but with an incredible energy and desire to work.

[6] Mstislav Dobuzhinsky said, that Grzhebin performed "a real miracle" as a manager, successfully uniting artists and writers from the opposite circles of Russian literature world in one enterprise.

[5][7] In 1906 Grzhebin opened the Shipovnik (Russian: Шиповник – rosehip) publishing house at 31 Nikolaevskaya Street, St Petersburg, in partnership with Solomon Yuryevich Kopelman.

[13][5] With his wife Maria Constantinovna Doriomedova (1880-1967), born in Nertchinski Zavod in Siberia,[9] Grzhebin had 5 children : Lya, Irina, Hélène, Alexis, Tovy.

[15] The Russian Revolution completely changed the situation on the book market: the equipment was destroyed, the typographic personnel was mostly called up into the Red Army, no paper of suitable quality was left in the whole country.

However, when a series called Letopis revoluistii included works by Fyodor Dan, Julius Martov, Viktor Chernov and Nikolai Sukhanov, the Bolsehviks were unhappy as they regards these fellow socialists as counter-revolutionaries.

[citation needed] A trial ensued in which Grzhebin's right to be paid for the books that he published according to the contract signed with the Soviet government was recognised.

Grzhebin owned paintings by Isaac Levitan, Albert Nikolayevitch Benois, Kustodiev, and Boris Grigoriev which were hung on the walls of the offices.