Before he started putting his name on the title page, Honore de Balzac (1799–1850) published many works under pseudonyms or without a signature at all. The subsequent works of the author of The Human Comedy overshadowed his early prose, and yet many of the features of the writer’s later manner are already present in these first attempts at writing. This is The Code of Decent Men (1825), an ironic treatise on how to “avoid being taken in by swindlers.” Not only is it written with the brilliance and wit that distinguishes the works of the mature Balzac; Many of the recommendations that the author gives to readers who lived almost two centuries ago remain valid to this day, since we are just as gullible today, and scammers are still resourceful and resourceful. The book is published in Russian for the first time.