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An interview with The Wright Book

Biblio checks in with The Wright Book to learn more about their book business, collecting interests and more! To view and shop their inventory, click here.


When did you get started in bookselling?

In 1990 I moved from Nevada to Portland, Oregon, and immediately, with a little help from a friend, got a job at Powell's. I worked there for seven years, first in shipping/receiving, then as administrative assistant to Michael Powell. Then, because I wanted to get back into the store with the books and out of the office with the bureaucrats, I applied for section head and got it. From there it was assistant manager of the Tech Store, and finally, I decided to head out on my own. We moved back to Nevada and I started my online store, and later joined others in a book co-op.


What drew you to bookselling?

My mother said she thought I was born with a book in my hand and I'm never without at least six or seven on my reading list at a time.


Did you have any mentors in becoming a bookseller?

I learned the book business by working at Powells, but I learned about books and how to price them and appraise them at Eureka Books. My mentor there was J.B., the manager. He taught me long before computers came into play and then I taught him about computers.


What are your specialties as a dealer?

I started as a specialist in Botany as that was my college major. Also, Western Americana, as I've lived in the wild west all my life. I added cookbooks and maritime/nautical. I was a seacook for a number of years on traditionally rigged sailing ships, and now I am a generalist with a large turnover in occult and metaphysics, American West, Sci-Fi, Occult, and Mystery.


What's the most amazing book you've ever sold?

Well, not terribly amazing, but a good story. My friend Kim called me one day and said she was moving away. She had ten boxes of books that were hers and her late mother’s. She was getting ready to take them to a thrift store, but she wondered if she should have me look them over first “Cause there are a bunch of really old ones,” she said. “Bring them over,” I said, though we warned her that old is not necessarily valuable. She did. In fifteen minutes we had eliminated about eight boxes as books that would not be worth selling, but the other two had some gems, including a 1794 Psalm Book and three scarce, antiquarian children’s books. They ended up retailing for about $3000 for the bunch. Boy was she tickled!


What is your favorite part of being a bookseller?

Discovering cool books in odd places.


Do you have an open storefront or have you in the past?

I am one of eleven owners of a book cooperative. We have a gorgeous 4000 sq ft store in old town Grass Valley, CA. I also have my online store, which I have had for almost 25 years now.


If so, do/did you have any bookstore pets?

I'm a dog person, so no cats, but my dog likes to come and say hello to the customers. He's a big, beautiful, 85 pound pit bull with a sweet disposition. The kids come in and want to kiss him and he responds with kisses of his own. One of the other dealers in my co-op has a most lovable Pug and he hangs out in the store sometimes, too.


What is the funniest / strangest / scariest thing that ever happened in your store?

One day in Powells I was up on a ladder in the Americana section when a gentleman below me on the floor started moaning and grabbing his chest. I scooted down quickly as possible and it was obvious he was having a heart attack. He wasn't breathing. I yelled to the other gal at the desk to call 911 and was just about to start CPR when a woman walked up, said, "I'm a nurse, can I help!" I could have kissed her right then and there. The EMTs arrived about 5 minutes later, the guy was breathing by then, he made it, and he sent me and the nurse flowers when got out of the hospital.


What is your favorite bookshop (other than your own)?

Oh man, impossible to name one. Shakespeare and Company in Paris, Lello's in Porto, Portugal, Sam Weller's in Salt Lake, Toad Hall in Nevada City, CA. Many more over the years but those are the ones that stand out.


What do you personally like to read? Collect?

I read just about anything. I love mysteries, I read some Sci-Fi, I like Mark Twain, Sherri Tepper, Isabel Allende, Spencer Quinn, Alan Watts, Margaret Atwood, Tom Robbins, and diaries of women who traveled west to California on wagon trains, etc. I collect books about famous horses and I love books about mules.


What's your favorite book you personally own? Would you sell it, if the price were right?

The only book I wouldn't sell is one on the clans of Scotland and that's because I'm mostly Scot and the book belonged to my grandfather and it identifies our clan. I also have a 7-book American first edition set of the Harry Potter series.


What one book would you buy if price were no object?

No idea.


If you were stranded on a desert island and could bring three books, what would they be?

Impossible. But: Roughing It, The Way of the Tao, Gate to Women's Country, Jitterbug Perfume. Hopefully I'd be smart enough to not get stranded in the first place. I'm a pretty good sailor.