A first volume of writings from the Archives Pertaining to Egderus Scriptor was published as _We Descend_ by Eastgate Systems just before the turn of the present millennium. At the time, authors of hypertexts labored in a variety of "authoring environments" in order to create their works; these were then distributed on small inscribed platters, carried overland in a mechanical conveyance, and delivered by hand to the place where the recipient's reading appliance was installed.

Since that naive but exhilarating era, the technology, practice, and philosophy of publishing writings of any kind have undergone wave after wave of wrenching change, with the result that in a relatively short time, *all* text is now hypertext, in the broadest sense of the word. The occupation of scriptor has been resurrected with a new name — "developer" — but at the same time the means of production have passed into the hands of ordinary folk, so that today, anyone can write hypertext, though as yet not many do, strictly speaking. It is to be hoped that the doughty few who enjoy reading true hypertext will continue their labor of converting friends, colleagues, and students — one at a time, if necessary — to its pleasures and unique rewards.

The preparation of a second volume of Writings from the archives made it palpably clear that the first volume, as published, required to be "brought into the present moment", at least in terms of its hypertext rendering. Once this task was engaged, it soon became plain that the textuality of the original was also defective in some respects, so a new translation was commissioned and completed within a few months, whilst updating the hypertext affordances of the piece required somewhat more time to complete.

Some modest demand for an edition of _We Descend_ that consolidates both volumes does exist, and groundwork for such a project has been laid. At the same time, there remain a significant number of Writings in the archives that have yet to be made ready for publication — not enough, perhaps, to justify a *third* volume, but as many as might fill the equivalent of a slim octavo, if that term retains any resonance. This undertaking as well is in its very earliest stages.