MAISTRE (Joseph de). Les Soirées de Saint-Pétersbourg, ou entretiens sur le gouvernement temporel de la providence: suivi d'un traité sur les sacrifices. Paris : Librairie grecque, latine et française, 1821. - 2 volumes in-8, blond half-calf, smooth spine decorated, marbled edges (period binding). Posthumous first edition of this important work by Joseph de Maistre, published only a few months after his death. It is illustrated with a frontispiece portrait of the author, lithographed by Villain after a drawing by Bouillon. "Les Soirées" marks an original attempt to revive the great Platonic tradition of dialogue. The latter, divided into eleven interviews, is established between three men: a young French emigrant (the knight), a Russian notable (the senator), and Maistre who puts himself on stage under the features of the count. Whether he discusses the misfortune of the just, the origin of language, the usefulness of prayer, animals, war, executioners, sacrifices, sovereignty, heredity, or whether he castigates Protestants, scientists, revolutionaries, Rousseau, Voltaire, or Locke, [...] the trio tirelessly asserts one and the same idea, the pillar of Maistrian theocratic dialectic: "I know that I know nothing"; translate: divine Providence governs humanity" (Benoît Yvert, in: "En français dans le texte", n° 229). Good copy in contemporary binding. Rubbing from use and some stains on the spine. Some foxing.