Protecting our Investments

Crimson Horn Press uses three NFPA, GSA, and NARA Directive 1571-compliant Archival Storage Chambers to protect our extremely rare books and documents. They are designed by the Darwin Chambers Company from St. Louis, Missouri. They are engineered to provide maximum value, efficiency, and conformance with all applicable standards and codes.

Our archival chambers provide environmental controls for storing records and materials (including paper documents and items with high fibrous content, various films, microfiche, and photographic materials) that require permanent protection for storage and preservation. Our high-performance systems are offered with nearly unlimited operational fail safes, including full system and control redundancy. In addition to keyed entry, numerous security options are also available, due to the often irreplaceable nature of the materials to be stored and preserved in this type of chamber. Our chambers are engineered to accommodate the loads and unique requirements of the specific materials to be stored, with industry-leading control and uniformity of both temperature and humidity variables. Design considerations include both functional and operational efficiencies and reliability, the safety and comfort of operating personnel, and the ongoing protection of the archived materials from fire, water, light degradation, pests, mold, and natural contaminants, pollutants, and other man-made threats.

With the added benefit of having a built-in alarm system and camera relay that feeds directly to our alarm monitoring service, as well as to the Seattle Police Department, criminals will be out of luck. And because our vaults are triple-shielded with a state-of-the-art firewall, even the hottest flames will not get through. Rest assured, our collections shall remain safe from burglary and fire, and safeguard the priceless collection with confidence.

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Expert Docent Guidance  

Crimson Horn Press – is a rare book and ancient manuscript repository. We offer a protected, vaulted underground system that offers watertight and atmospheric regulated environments for our collections. Visitations are available by invitation only.

Today, Crimson Horn Press reserves its publishing obligations to a minimum, taking part in scholarly research with the occasional publication of research pertaining to magick and the occult, and other projects we deem important to society.

* From time to time, Crimson Horn Press allows for the reviewing of certain books and documents under a guided tour, with the permission of its regents. We reserve the right to display or retain display upon sound judgment, and are not subject to coercion by any governing body.

Our docent is available every Wednesday evenings from 2 P.M. to 3 A.M. Meetings of the E.O.D. and the S.O.R. take place at their convenience. We are located in the old cannery building in Pioneer Square, Seattle, at 213 S. Main Street, situated on the southwest corner of 2nd Avenue S. and S. Main Street. 

Crimson Horn Press, originally called The Vermiculus Horn Freeth Press from 1690 to 1788, was founded by Richard Henry Jenkinson, a wealthy landowner from Danvers, Massachusetts. He began his venture by creating and distributing common flyers and small booklets to the masses, ranging from religious and Biblical quotations to poetry and farming advice, and even recipes and cooking techniques for women of the day. It finally culminated in a worthy practice with the local government, serving as a way to post decrees, mandates, and orders as seen by the governor and his staff.

Using a simple wooden and iron-fitted, hand-operated press, not unlike a ‘Washington’ type press, Jenkinson and his two sons, Archibald and Grayson, would carry on the family hobby of printing books, pamphlets, and other printed materials for such institutions as Harvard College in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the Collegiate School in Connecticut Colony and King Williams’ in the Provance of Maryland. By 1733, the Jenkinson family would use an intaglio press and grow to a staff of eight, turning a hobby into a rather lucrative business. This would continue until the patriarch died of scarlatina on 30 June 1788. The two sons, Archibald and Grayson, would sell the business to what is now Harvard University. The press would go on functioning as normal until 1856, when it was sold to a private collector from the Town of Independence, Virginia.

It is in the spirit of Richard Henry Jenkinson that the name Crimson Horn Press was created. It serves as a dedication to the arts and the free spirit of the original colonists that helped make this great nation what it is today. As of 17 November 1991, Crimson Horn Press serves as a private repository for antiquated books, periodicals, and rare printings, including Bibles, concordances, and books of a more nefarious nature. Whether original and facsimiles of such works as the Grimorium Verum, Book of Abramelin, the Arbatel de Magia Veterum, and the Ghayat al Hikam, we also retain highly sought-after books such as a 16th-century version of the Liber Juratus Honorii, as well as a 17th-century copy of the Verba ex Libro Vivi, and even several fragments of the dreaded Kitab Al Azif, by Abdul Alhazred, the so-called Mad Arab of Senna.

To date, Crimson Horn Press retains more than six hundred rare books and other printed paraphernalia in our atmosphere-protected vaults.

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Benefactrices

Thanks to our benefactors, the Esoteric Order of Dagon and the Societas Crucis et Pentalfa (S.o.R.), we have grown in our most revered collections.  Here are but a few of Crimson Horn Press’s more notable titles related to 15th-to 17th-century books and related documents on occult magic:

Primary Source Texts (Grimoires and Treatises):

• Three Books of Occult Philosophy by Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa: This is a key text in the Western magical tradition. It provides a comprehensive explanation of magic and astrology, First Edition(s), 1531 in Paris, Cologne, and Antwerp.

• The Book of Ceremonial Magic: Compiled by Arthur Edward Waite, this work includes key passages from magical texts of the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries.

• The Lesser Key of Solomon (Lemegeton): This is a compilation of ancient writings on magic, with parts traced to the mid-16th to 17th centuries, notably involving research by Cornelius Agrippa and Johannes Trithemius.

• Malleus Maleficarum: A manual detailing the investigation and persecution of witchcraft, believed to have influenced the witch trials in Europe during the 16th century.

• Book of Soyga (Aldaraia): A book on magic attributed to John Dee, focused on contacting angels and containing a supposed "language of the angels" known as Enochian.

• The Discoverie of Witchcraft by Reginald Scot: Written in 1584, this work challenged prevailing beliefs about witches and superstition.

• The Key of Solomon: This work was important to Renaissance philosophers and magicians and served as the basis for much of traditional Western magical practices.

• The Zohar: A primary text of Kabbalah, which predates many later Western esoteric traditions.

• Daemonologie by King James VI of Scotland (later James I of England): This work aimed to educate the public on the truth about demons, witches, and magic. 

Also in our collection is an original facsimile of the Verba Ex Libro Vivi, circa 1680.  Also known as Livre des Paroles Vivantes “Words from the Book of the Living” and “The Booke of Mediaeval Metaphysics” byProxenos Triarius IV(Alias Petrus Maquereaux le Brun), the Verba ex Libro Vivi is cast on raw parchment and bound in cork and wood. The skin is deer hide with the emblem of Solomon the King at its apex. The words surrounding the pentalfa are: TE-TRA-GRAM-MA-TON, the sacred names for God. These were burned into the skin with what our analysts say is gunpowder. 

Although there are pages missing, this book has been valued at an estimated range of 500k to 800k, and is insured through David Scully’s new book on fine art insurance.

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