Sisters man offers used and rare books

If you've lived long enough and you love books, you've probably got quite a collection going. For most people there comes a time when you look at all your over-packed shelves and stacks of boxes and wonder just what to do with the overflow.

That's where Rod Bonacker of Black Butte Books comes in. An avid reader and book lover, Bonacker realized he could save money by buying used books instead of new. He began buying books from Powell's City of Books in Portland, read them and then sold them back. It was a short jump to buying books from other sources and selling them to Powell's for a profit.

Bonacker officially began in the used and rare book business back in 1996. He did business with Walter Powell who handled all the buying for the huge used book store.

"Walter had a big line of tables covered with books people wanted to sell; he looked at every book himself," Bonacker said. "He identified one of my books as being quite valuable. I ended up selling eight or nine boxes."

With that first taste of success, Bonacker was hooked.

Over the years Bonacker shifted from driving to the Valley to sell books to using the Internet. "The Internet made it possible for me to reach a wider audience and get a better price," he said.

He found Advanced Book Exchange (ABE) online and signed up as a book seller. When he signed on he was around the 300th person; now ABE has over 15,000 dealers.

There are three main components to Bonacker's business: buying and selling books; researching and buying certain books for clients; and assessing books for their value for tax purposes or resale. According to Bonacker, Sisters is a hotbed for used book dealers.

"There are two brick-and-mortar businesses in town and another half a dozen people who work primarily online by selling through eBay or ABE," he said.

Bonacker is quick to point out this business is more of a passion than a money-maker.

"You could count the successful rare and used book companies on one hand," he said. "But people can make a living by creating a niche market that they specialize in."

Bonacker personally collects books by and about Lewis and Clark. He also enjoys books about fly fishing in the Northwest. But even with the books he collects, there's a fine line between what he keeps and what's for sale.

"The line is pretty blurry; sometimes books move from my keep pile to my sale pile and, if they're lucky, back again," he said.

There are a few tips Bonacker wants to pass on to fellow book lovers and collectors:

Ensuring that a book is a first edition isn't as easy as it may seem.

"Technically, a first edition is the first published version of a book to appear in print as a separate entity," he said. "But publishers use all different types of conventions to identify printing histories."

If a book says "First Edition" or "Second Edition" Bonacker says that is usually reliable, but with older books it may take an experienced book dealer to accurately identify if it's a first edition or not.

The subtle nuances of defining a book's value are as varied as the books themselves. Collectors look for the anomalies in the printing process. They want the best possible condition and the rarest editions. It takes an expert to glean out which books qualify as extremely valuable.

"The bottom line," said Bonacker, "is this: The difference between a $1 book and a $30,000 book is condition."

When you're looking at a book to buy, there are a few things to notice. The tightness of the book is important. Check to see if it's been marked up or written in by its readers (an exception to that rule is if the person doing the marking is famous). Underlining depletes a book's value as do turned down pages, water damage or mold.

After the 1930s most books came with a book jacket. A book without it loses most of its value. To ensure a book's value is maintained, take good care of it. Don't pull on the spine when removing it from a shelf, and take off the book jacket when reading it.

Bonacker knows there's another value to the books people have that can't be measured in dollars. When people bring him books, even if they're not worth a lot, Bonacker recognizes that the books are important to them. At estate sales the books often represent a family's history, as they collected them throughout their lifetimes.

"There's a real personal side that needs to be honored," he said. "My job is to find the books a good home."

To contact Rod Bonacker call 549-3082.