GIDE (André). Interviews imaginaires. Paris : Gallimard, [1942]. - In-12, garnet half-maroquin with corners, ribbed spine, gilt head, untrimmed, cover and spine preserved (Huser). First edition. "The "Interviews imaginaires", chronicles of purely literary appearance, appeared in Le Figaro littéraire (then withdrawn to the free zone) from November 1941 to June 1942. These articles represented Gide's solution to the following problem: how to express dissident thought during the Second World War, when the German occupiers and the Vichy regime imposed heavy censorship? These chronicles take up the dialogue form of the "Interviewer's Visits" published in L'Ermitage in 1905 (reprinted in Essais critiques). This structure proved useful under censorship, as it was not always the character known as "Moi" who expressed Gide's thoughts; sometimes it was "Lui", the interviewer, or the dialogue between the two interlocutors, who expressed the political criticism that Gide wanted to be clear but discreet. In principle, the "Interviews imaginaires" deal with language and literature. But between the lines, Gide encourages the French to remain independent, to resist the ideology of the Germans and Vichy" (Jocelyn Van Tuyl, Centre d'études gidiennes website). ONE OF 56 EXEMPLIES ON VELIN PUR FIL DES PAPETERIES NAVARRE, the only edition on large paper, this being one of 6 hors commerce. A very fine copy bound by Huser.