André GIDE. L.S., with 2 autograph corrections, Paris September 4, 1929, to Eugène Dabit; 3pages in-4 dactyl. Beautiful, long letter to Dabit. His rheumatism prevents him from writing, which explains this typed letter. He is delighted to renew his acquaintance with Dabit, having "suffered greatly from the bogeyman that your over-sensitive imagination had contrived to erect between us [...] And I dared not write to you again, fearing that some new imprudence would aggravate your alarm... And I measured the depth of my affection for you, already old, by the grief I felt at having lost yours. [...] Our friendship, of an entirely mystical nature, demands a pure heaven". Gide finds it hard to believe that his words, "so clumsy, so inadequate, of which I am so little master in conversation, and which so often betray my feelings and my thoughts, that these words could be of greater comfort than my books, in which I try to project what I feel is most important and best in myself". He does not share the same conception of talent: he shares "your abhorrence of fake, postiche and over-added talent; of adornment, of make-up, of masks, be they of gold or jewels", and he "rejects more and more any useless adjunct, any virtuosity", and tends "towards an ever purer, simpler and more artifice-free expression of my feelings and thoughts". This requires superior talent and a simplicity that reflects "profound virtues, akin to those taught to us by the Gospel. But even if they are perfect Catholics (or at least pretend to be), the pride of some of our most celebrated and applauded writers dismays and sickens me...; even in Chateaubriand or Claudel, I can't stand it. As for Barrès... no, that would take us too far"...