The memoirs of the famous adventurer Giacomo Casanova (1725-1798) are an extremely frank self-portrait of an adventurer who did not constrain himself by any prohibitions, and provide a picturesque picture of the life and customs of the 18th century. Casanova traveled all over Europe, was acquainted with many remarkable personalities (Voltaire, Rousseau, Catherine II, etc.), and spent about a year in Russia. Stefan Zweig put Casanova's memoirs on a par with the autobiographical books of Stendhal and Leo Tolstoy. This translation of Giacomo Casanova's “Memoirs” is made from the six-volume (in-octavo) Brussels edition of 1881 (Memoires de Jacques Casanova de Seingalt ecrits par lui-meme. Bruxelles, Rozez, Libraire-editeur, 1881.) and makes up approximately one-fourth of it. For inclusion in the Russian translation, those parts of the “Memoirs” were selected that: firstly, reflect significant events in the life of the author; secondly, are of historical interest (meetings with Rousseau, Voltaire, Frederick II, travel to Russia) and show the morals of the century; thirdly, they are most elaborate in terms of drama and narrative style; and, finally, they are simply entertaining, like everyday stories.