John V. Henley LLC
Qualifications of John V. Henley
Appraisal Experience:
John V. Henley, has bought, sold, and regularly appraised antiquarian books, manuscripts, incunables, ephemera, antique maps, historic photographs, professional and personal archives and many forms of printed or handwritten items for payment regularly since 1977.
He has been a consultant on books and handwritten documents for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
He is Qualified Appraiser. He is an Accredited Senior Appraiser, with a designation in Books and Manuscripts from the American Society of Appraisers. He is currently a member of the American Society of Appraisers Personal Property Committee and is the Chair of the Education Committee.
While on the management team at Powell’s Bookstore in Portland, Oregon, the firm grew from six employees to over two hundred employees and three locations. He established the Rare Books Department, the New Books Department, and the Used Book Department at Powell’s, As manager of the Great Northwest Bookstore, he issued over fiftycatalogues for rare and unusual books and ephemera of Western Americana and issued catalogues for collected literary books and archives.
He taught a course for ten years with the Publishing Program at Portland State University entitled “Bookselling,” aimed at educating graduate students entering the publishing industry about bookselling, including its numerous varieties of market, new, used, and antiquarian venues. He is currently teaching a course on developmental editing, which is a survey course of American fiction that was extremely popular in its time but has not been incorporated into the literary canon at most universities.
He has appraised numerous book collections and archives including those of Ken Kesey, Senator Mark O. Hatfield, William Safire, Dr. Maya Angelou, August Wilson, Ursula K. Le Guin, Ray Bradbury and August Wilson, to name but a few. He was selected by the Department of the Interior to appraise the historic archives of Dr. John McLoughlin, “the Father of Oregon.” He was also selected by the Department of Energy to appraise the extensive archives of the Bonneville Power Administration, a collection of over 1,000,000 books and artifacts. He has given lectures to the American Society of Appraisers on the process of appraising personal and professional archives, as well as a lecture on the process of appraising early printed Bibles. He has also appraised audio-visual and film archives, including the professional archives of KEZI, (ABC affiliate) television station archives, as well as the professional archives of James Blue, a noted documentarian.
Organizations: American Society of Appraisers
Ephemera Society of America
Cascade Booksellers Association
QED Appraisal Group, LLC
Bookselling Experience:
1966 – 1970 – Book-scout (sometimes referred to as runner) for Cal’s Books and Wares, Portland, Oregon
1972-1976 – Portland State University Bookstore, Portland, Oregon
1977-1990 – Powell’s Bookstore, main store in downtown Portland Assistant Manager, Head New Book Buyer (established New Book Department and policies); Rare Books Department; Head Used Books buyer; (established the Used Book Department and policies) helped establish bookstore events and readings; assisted in development of Library Services department. Established the largest Computer Sciences section in a bookstore; helped established Powell’s Technical Books
1990-2009– Manager, Great Northwest Bookstore, personnel management, buying and selling books, ephemera, maps, photographs, archives, autographs, manuscripts, historic artifacts, mail order catalogues, was among the first 50 booksellers to offer books online
- 2009- Present - Owner, John V. Henley, LLC
2013 - Present - Accredited Senior Appraiser, American Society of Appraisers
Relevant Experience Related Bookselling and Appraisal Professions
1988 – 2003 – Trustee, Oregon Institute of Literary Arts. Wrote the by-laws during the re-organization OILA in 1996.
2000 – Present – Book-keeper and Treasurer for a non-profit organization, Autism Research and Resources of Oregon, and prepares the I.R.S. filing 990 for this organization. He is familiar with Internal Revenue Service instructions and Tax Court rulings relating to non-cash donations to non-profits.
2002 – Present - Adjunct Professor, Portland State University’s publishing Program, a graduate program – teaching courses in Bookselling and Development Editing
2000 - Present - Treasurer for Autism Research and Resources of Oregon
Educational Background:
Graduate, Portland State University, 1974
Specialized education:
Columbia University, Rare Books School, Summer Term 1989 – studying Bibliography under William Reese of the William Reese Company and George Miles, of the Beinecke Library, Yale University
Denver State/ AB Bookman’s Rare Book School, Summer Term 1990
Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) - 15 hour and continuing 7 hour courses since 2009
Principles of Valuation, PP/GJ 201 Introduction to Personal Property Valuation/American Society of Appraisers, Summer 2012
Principles of Valuation/ PP/GJ202 Development of Appraisal Methodology – Research and Analysis/ American Society of Appraisers, Summer 2012
Principles of Valuation/ PP/GJ203 Report Writing/ American Society of Appraisers, Summer 2012
Principles of Valuation/ PP/ GJ204 Legal and Regulatory Environment
Personal Notes
I was born, raised and live in Portland, Oregon.
My son, Sean, is autistic. At times I have been an activist for the rights for autistic people and have worked to support
persons with autism and their families since 1988.
My mother was a well-known and respected college professor and was an accomplish poet in her times
My father was a financial - loan specialist for the United States National Bank, and contributed much effort for the creation, and passing of the Truth in Lending Act.