By Larry W. Bryant

Lest any readers of this column conclude that its author has a sole dimension when it comes to book-collecting (i.e., his substantial stock of UFOana), let him state, for the record, that his bibliophilia does have multiple levels of acquisition.

For example: somewhere squirreled away in my 800-square-foot home lies my 37-year-old collection of books, articles, and essays composed by persons who've spent time as a patient receiving "treatment" in a mental hospital. These published personal narratives from all walks of life, ranging from a pro-baseball player and a Hollywood star to writers and a clergyman, date back to the start of the 20th century.

As I earnestly pursued this material, I came to realize its permanent value to medical practitioners/researchers, mental-hygiene activists, and literary scholars. Canvassing libraries, used-book stores, and flea markets, I felt compelled to help preserve such an insightful, inspirational glimpse behind society's curtained subculture of the institutionalized. So, I embarked on a project to synopsize the contents of each item, whereby many a night I'd sit down, during or after supper, and commit my hand-written notes to 3- by-5-inch index cards. The goal: to produce a book-length annotated bibliography of my entire collection.

Eventually, I discovered that at least three other such bibliographies already had been published. Of course, that discovery dampened my enthusiasm for continuing the project, but I tried to tell myself: "Hey, those other surveys focused on the material's clinical value, whereas mine will highlight its literary value." Over the ensuing years, the project died of benign neglect -- but, to this day, I remain on the look-out for newly published memoirs of ex-mental patients.

That abandoned bibliography project had been cross-nurtured by an earlier seed for a similar one, which also begs for resumption -- and which brings us to why you should continue reading this column.

Fifty years ago -- for his inaugural (June 1957) issue of Flying Saucers magazine -- the late, former science-fiction publisher-editor Ray Palmer ignited a pulp-paper trail of public inquiry, debate, and entertainment that lasted about 20 years. (If you even can find a copy of that first issue, expect to pay as much as $100 for it; the cover price at the 1950s newsstand? -- 35 cents.)

In the last issue -- No. 92 (June 1976); 75 cents per copy -- Palmer devoted a lengthy editorial to the economic folly of continuing Flying Saucers as a separate publication, announcing its forthcoming merger with his older, Fortean-focused periodical, SEARCH. Not long afterwards, SEARCH folded.

Back in the late 1960s, as the proud owner of every issue of Flying Saucers, I asked myself: "What if I were to do an annotated bibliography of this soon-to-be classic in UFO literature? Would there be a market for it?" In my late twenties at the time, I had every reason to jump right in. For one thing, it would be good writing practice. It also would help me create a higher "author's profile" for myself (even though the booklet might never arrive at a commercial printing press). And it would help promote and preserve the historic value of Palmer's pet project. So, I dug out my trusty pack of 3-by-5 cards and began, issue by issue, to index and comment upon each major article/column/letter-to-editor.

Alas, a marital breakup (an inescapable fact-of-life among UFOlogists, doncha know?), a job relocation, and other pressing factors of economic survival intervened to put this project on the back burner with the other one. And there it remains.

Now, I need your input on the burning question: in this age of self-publication and print-on-demand-publication technology, should I reopen the FS-mag project and thereby help fulfill its preservation promise? Please e-mail me your thoughts/suggestions on this prospect (at: overtci@cavtel.net).

Meantime, should you ever run across a bargain-priced memoir of an ex-mental hospital patient, please let me know -- especially if the memoirist also happens to have been a UFOlogist.

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Larry W. Bryant's latest distraction from matters UFOlogical consists of his e-serialized book "The Bu$ch-Cheezey Impeachment Chronicles" -- available at the Web site of http://www.bushbusiness.com/Bryant_OP.htm .