Short newsletter article/press release announcing the Center for Book Arts’s exhibition of Agrippa.

“Obviously, Agrippa challenges our conceptions of what constitutes a book. It utilizes the traditional format of the book as it embraces the technological advancements that threaten to make that format obsolete, yet seems to undermine those offerings of technology in the process. The exhibition will be accompanied by a series of lectures which deal with issues related to the book and technology.” (Facsimile image and full text available in Documents.)

Facsimile Image

The following information was contributed by Amy Schlabitz: “While I am unable to provide complete source information, I can give you some additional information. The publication is named Musik Express Sounds and is commonly referred to (for example, online) as ME/Sounds. It is a monthly publication, and the William Gibson article must have been published in 1991 or early 1992, due to the information in the second article about waiting for the release of Madonna’s movie. They are anticipating the release of A League of Their Own, which, according to IMDB, was released in 1992. Here is a link to a web page displaying an article from a different issue of the magazine.”

Sidebar offers brief commentary from William Gibson about the nature of the medium of this art object and book.

“A text has a different meaning if you receive it this way,” Gibson says. “The medium is the message. It’s not the same experience as reading a book or literary magazine–you have to go through a strange process to access this thing. If nothing else you’ll have to pay close attention–you’ll never get to see it twice.” (Facsimile image and full text of preliminary correspondence between Chris Farley and the Publisher available in Documents.)

Article is a brief news piece about the release of Agrippa.

“…$7,500 for a story that self-destructs? Gibson counters that there’s an egalitarian side to the project: There will be a one-time modem transmission of the story to museums and other venues…” (Facsimile image and full text of preliminary correspondence between Chris Farley and the Publisher available in Documents.)

Article is a brief news item that offers a concise description of Agrippa. See Untraced Works.

“…this artwork forces the reader to make an irreversible decision: Enjoy the book once or just keep it as an unread collector’s item.”…Says publisher Kevin Begos Jr.: “You must accept your decisions without regret.”

“Agrippa (a book of the dead) is a cyberpunk form of tribal storytelling, a one-time fiber optic transmission of a tale by William Gibson and artist Dennis Ashabuagh. Using various media, the story changes as it’s told and challenges traditional ideas of literature.”

CBA site offers a description of Agrippa.

“The deluxe edition of AGRIPPA was set in Monotype Gill Sans at Golgonooza Letter Foundry, and printed on Rives heavyweight text by the Sun Hill Press and by Kevin Begos Jr. The etchings were made by the artist and editioned by Peter Pettingill on Fabriano Tiepolo paper. The book was handsewn and bound in linen by Karl Foulkes. The housing was designed by the artist, and the encryption code used to destroy the story was created by (BRASH), with help from several other individuals who will go unnamed…”

Cyberlicious offers a brief press release and review of Agrippa.

“Agrippa is a large over-sized book, too large and bulky to read on the bus. Yellow, aged pages with ink whose chemical composition changes when exposed to sunlight so that some writing & images disappear and new ones appear. Words & images Agrippa has a secret space within it’s pages that holds a computer disk. A computer disk holding a program which replicates a William Gibson poem….once…..before erasing and eradicating itself. A poem which speaks of loss, the process of reintegration, and completion.”

This issue of Reading for Please features a brief press release about Agrippa.

“Called “Agrippa: Book of the Dead”, it is a story by Gibson on a 3-1/2″ disk, packaged in a hollowed-out book along with relics suggesting rural Virginia in the 1920s. The weirdest part is that, reportedly, the story-on-disk will contain a virus that will infect the readers computer, begin to mutate, and then destroy itself after one reading. (I hope they mean the virus destroys itself, not the story.) “