GIDE (André). - Lot 141

GIDE (André). Journey to the Congo. Travel Diaries. — Return from Chad. Continuation of Journey to the Congo. Travel Diaries. Paris: Éditions de la Nouvelle Revue Française, 1927–1928. — 2 works in 2 in-4 volumes, 217 x 166: map, 249 pp., (3 ff., last blank), 2 maps, printed cover; map, 252 pp., (2 ff., last blank), 3 maps, printed cover. Paperback. First edition of these two complementary volumes, recounting André Gide’s African journey: the first covers his trip through the French possessions in Equatorial Africa, from July 1925 to February 1926; the second continues the account, from February to May 1926, from Lake Chad to Douala, Cameroon. Commissioned by the Ministry of the Colonies to report on his travels, Gide, then 56 years old, embarked on this eleven-month journey accompanied by his lover, Marc Allégret, who managed the logistics while photographing and filming their adventure. “The book reads first and foremost as a travelogue, a masterpiece of its genre thanks to his keen observation, his talents as an entomologist, and the elegance of his style... But this unprecedented encounter between a Parisian dandy writer and the mysterious beauty of Black Africa is overshadowed by his outrage at the exploitation of the “natives” and the abuse and humiliations effectively condoned by the colonial administration. Gide then took on the role of investigator, following in the footsteps of Pierre Sarvognan de Brazza—the former commissioner of the Congo and founder of Brazzaville—who had been commissioned by the French government to investigate the concession system. But while the 1905 report—which had already denounced these same evils—had been literally buried, Gide ensured that his cry of revolt reached the widest possible audience, and, thanks to press coverage, succeeded in getting the Chamber of Deputies to finally take up the issue. “This journey thus marks Gide’s first act of politically engaged literature” (Vignes, *Les Gide de M. Clarac*, no. 60). The edition is illustrated with 7 separate maps. First-edition copies reprinted in the Tellière quarto format on Lafuma-Navarre laid paper, from a print run of 118 and 120 copies—the latter bearing the number LXIII—specially printed for Mr. E. Vanderborght. The copies are in good condition.