The Agrippa Files » Letters

Archival Documents »Letters About Agrippa

aliu — Thu, 22 Sep 2005 08:45:24 +0000

Letters related to the design, publication, and exhibition of Agrippa (a book of the dead)

Letter from the Programmer (28 March 1992)

eswanstrom — Mon, 05 Sep 2005 23:00:38 +0000

Item #D6. Letter from the programmer to the publisher regarding the code for Agrippa’s disk and its encryption program.

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Letter from Kevin Begos to Chris Farley at USA Today (8 April 1992)

editor — Mon, 05 Sep 2005 22:50:54 +0000

Item #D14. Letter from Kevin Begos to Chris Farley at USA Today regarding press coverage of Agrippa.

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Letter from the Programmer (28 April 1992)

aliu — Mon, 05 Sep 2005 22:40:51 +0000

Item #D31. Fax of letter from the programmer to the publisher with an update on the program for scrolling William Gibson’s poem in Agrippa.

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Letter from the Programmer (7 May 1992)

aliu — Mon, 05 Sep 2005 22:30:08 +0000

Item #D32. Fax from Agrippa’s programmer to its publisher about the “fuss” resulting from confusion that the encryption program on the work’s diskette might be a “virus.”

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For the New York Times article on encryption legislation referred to by the programmer (and faxed with his letter), see article. For the “original press release” referred to, see Agrippa press release/prospectus.

Letter from John Perry Barlow to Kevin Begos (11 June 1992)

aliu — Mon, 05 Sep 2005 23:27:58 +0000

Item #D45. Letter from the John Perry Barlow to Kevin Begos, Jr., publisher of Agrippa.

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After meeting Kevin Begos at an event in New York City and hearing about Agrippa, Barlow—who had co-founded the Electronic Frontier Foundation in 1990—enlisted John Gilmore (of Sun Microsystems, Inc.) to consult by phone with the programmer of Agrippa’s encryption code; he also arranged for Begos to attend the Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility’s 2nd annual conference on Cryptography and Privacy, held in Washington, D.C., on 1 June 1992 (see Item #D24). Barlow and the EFF were concerned about efforts in Congress at the time to legislate encryption, and in this letter offers to be the lightning rod for “any legal fire generated” by Agrippa’s code. (See also the 7 May 1992 letter from Agrippa’s programmer referring to Barlow’s concerns about the “fuss being made over the encryption.”) The name of the programmer, with whom Barlow mentions having a “long chat,” is here blacked out because of his wish to be anonymous. (Source for information in this note: personal communication from Kevin Begos to The Agrippa Files editors, 8 Dec. 2005.)

Letter from Kevin Begos to Nick Despotopoulis at Apple Computer (24 July 1992)

aliu — Mon, 05 Sep 2005 22:25:42 +0000

Item #D41. Letter from publisher Kevin Begos, Jr., to Nick Despotopoulis of Apple Computer about Agrippa.

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Last Letter from the Programmer (9 August 1992)

aliu — Mon, 05 Sep 2005 22:20:13 +0000

Item #D29. August 12, 1992, letter from the programmer regarding the Agrippa disk and encryption code.

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Letter from Kevin Begos to William Gibson (1992)

eswanstrom — Mon, 05 Sep 2005 22:00:15 +0000

Item #D9. Letter of 1992 (exact date unknown) from publisher Kevin Begos, Jr., to William Gibson regarding Agrippa.

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For the “Kodak book” referred to, see 1920 Kodak catalog advertising “The Agrippa Album.” The plan for using the special vintage Whatman papers was never implemented.

Letter from Kevin Begos to William Gibson (1992)

aliu — Mon, 05 Sep 2005 21:50:35 +0000

Item #D40. Another letter of 1992 (exact date unknown) from publisher Kevin Begos, Jr., to William Gibson regarding Agrippa.

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For the article from Print Collectors Newsletter referred to, see article.