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New Mexico UFO & Roswell Book Collector's Guide

Selling or donating a New Mexico UFO or Roswell book collection

You’re settling a Roswell-area estate. You’re cleaning out a relative’s basement and there are boxes of strange paperbacks. You’re moving and the UFO collection accumulated over forty years has to go. You’re a Roswell UFO Festival attendee thinning the shelf. This page is the collector’s reference: how to spot the trophies, how they’re handled once donated, and how to clear the whole shelf. A note on service area: NMLP’s free pickup runs the Albuquerque metro only — it does not travel to Roswell, Carlsbad, Las Cruces, Farmington, or the Aztec area. If you’re coming to Albuquerque, the free 24/7 any-condition drop-off at 5445 Edith Blvd NE takes a collection of any size, and the books re-enter circulation through community literacy partners, Little Free Libraries, and the resale margin that funds the operation.

Call 505-250-3804 24/7 ABQ drop-off

If you’re an executor handling a Roswell-area estate, the surviving relative of a UFO researcher, a retired military or government scientist downsizing decades of collected books, a Roswell UFO Festival attendee thinning the shelf, or just inherited a basement of strange paperbacks and want to know what’s there — this page is for you. The market is real and specialty-driven. I follow the closed-signature-pool literature so I can recognize the trophies and route them to the right place. NMLP itself is a donation operation, not a buyer; the trophy-identification on this page exists so the books don’t end up at a Goodwill, not so I make you a cash offer.

A note on tone: this page is about the books, not whether the events in them happened. I'm neutral on that question and the market is too. The collector value comes from edition rarity, signed copies, condition, provenance, and how an author's bibliography stacks up after their death. Below is the working knowledge I bring to every UFO library I evaluate in this state.

Last verified October 2026 · Original research by Josh Eldred

Why New Mexico is the center of this market

Roswell happened here in July 1947. Aztec is alleged to have happened in March 1948. The Trinity Site is in southern New Mexico. Walker Air Force Base (formerly Roswell Army Air Field) hosted the only nuclear-armed bomb wing in the United States from 1945 through the late 1960s. Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque is a nuclear weapons storage and research site and has been linked in the UFO literature to a long sequence of overflight incidents going back to the 1940s. Dulce, on the Jicarilla Apache reservation in northern New Mexico, is the alleged location of an underground base in a body of literature that became its own subgenre in the 1980s. Holloman AFB outside Alamogordo has its own catalog of incidents going back to the 1950s.

Every one of those locations produced witnesses, researchers, retirees, hobbyists, and collectors who built personal libraries on the topic. Many of those people lived in New Mexico for decades and accumulated books steadily. When their estates settle, the libraries land on the Albuquerque, Roswell, Las Cruces, Santa Fe, and Farmington estate-sale circuits, where they get priced by the linear foot at a dollar a paperback. The first-edition Berlitz-Moore Roswell Incident with the original orange dust jacket sits in a fifty-cent box. The signed Stanton Friedman copy goes out for pocket change because the estate company didn't recognize the inscription. That gap is what this pillar exists to close.

The annual Roswell UFO Festival (held in early July around the anniversary of the 1947 incident) draws fifty thousand visitors and produces its own donor flow back into Albuquerque-area estates over the following months. Festival-circuit signings from Stanton Friedman through 2018, Don Schmitt, Kevin Randle, Tom Carey, and other Roswell-canon authors are common in the books I see. I track which years each researcher attended and which titles they typically signed.

What’s typically in this kind of collection

Reference for serious UFO collectors and researchers, and the working knowledge I bring to every donation pickup so the right material gets routed to the right channel. NMLP doesn’t buy these books — this list exists for routing and education, not as a valuation tool. If you’re a donor planning a pickup, you don’t need to read this section; just text 505-250-3804.

The Roswell canon

  • Charles Berlitz & William Moore, The Roswell Incident. 1980 Grosset & Dunlap first edition, original orange dust jacket. The book that put Roswell on the map after thirty years of obscurity. Berlitz died 2003; signed copies of either author are notable, signed by both is the trophy.
  • Stanton Friedman & Don Berliner, Crash at Corona. 1992 Marlowe first edition. The Friedman-led counter-narrative to early Roswell skeptics. Friedman died May 13, 2019 — closed signature pool.
  • Kevin Randle & Donald Schmitt, UFO Crash at Roswell. 1991 Avon first edition. Followed by The Truth About the UFO Crash at Roswell 1994.
  • Karl Pflock, Roswell: Inconvenient Facts and the Will to Believe. 2001 Prometheus Books first edition. Pflock died 2006 — closed pool. The serious skeptical reassessment.
  • Stanton Friedman, TOP SECRET/MAJIC. 1996 Marlowe first edition. The Majestic 12 documents argument. Signed firsts are increasingly scarce since 2019.
  • The original July 8, 1947 Roswell Daily Record with the “RAAF Captures Flying Saucer” headline. Original copies in any condition are five-figure items. Reproductions and Roswell Museum prints are not the same thing — buyer beware.
  • Walter Haut signed memorabilia. Haut was the Roswell base public information officer who issued the original July 1947 press release; he signed material at the International UFO Museum in Roswell until shortly before his 2005 death. Closed pool.

Aztec, Dulce & northern New Mexico material

  • Frank Scully, Behind the Flying Saucers. 1950 Henry Holt first edition. The first book to widely discuss the alleged 1948 Aztec, NM crash. Scully died 1964 — closed pool. First editions in original dust jackets are mid-three-figure to four-figure items in good condition.
  • Bill Steinman & Wendelle Stevens, UFO Crash at Aztec. 1986 Sherbrooke (Tucson) first edition. The principal modern Aztec study. Stevens died 2010 — closed pool.
  • Scott Ramsey & Suzanne Ramsey, The Aztec UFO Incident. 2011 first edition. Updated and expanded multiple times since.
  • Greg Bishop, Project Beta. 2005 Pocket. The definitive account of the Paul Bennewitz / Kirtland AFB / Dulce disinformation operation in 1980s Albuquerque.
  • Norio Hayakawa-related self-published Dulce material; small-press and zine-format runs are scarce.
  • Robert Hastings, UFOs and Nukes. 2008 first edition. Walker AFB Roswell, Kirtland AFB, Holloman, and Malmstrom incident catalog.

The 1950s saucer-era classics

  • Donald Keyhoe, The Flying Saucers Are Real. 1950 Fawcett (paperback original). Keyhoe was the first major mainstream UFO writer. The original Fawcett paperback in collector-grade condition with the original cover is a genuine collector item. Keyhoe died 1988 — closed pool.
  • Donald Keyhoe, Flying Saucers from Outer Space. 1953 Henry Holt hardcover first edition.
  • Donald Keyhoe, The Flying Saucer Conspiracy. 1955 Henry Holt first edition.
  • Donald Keyhoe, Flying Saucers: Top Secret. 1960 Putnam first edition.
  • Edward J. Ruppelt, The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects. 1956 Doubleday first edition. Ruppelt led the Air Force's Project Blue Book; he died 1960 — closed pool. First editions in original dust jackets are four-figure items.
  • Coral Lorenzen, The Great Flying Saucer Hoax. 1962. Lorenzen co-founded APRO; she died 1988 — closed pool.
  • Carl Jung, Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Skies. 1959 Harcourt Brace first English edition.
  • George Adamski, Inside the Space Ships. 1955 Abelard-Schuman first edition. Adamski with Desmond Leslie, Flying Saucers Have Landed, 1953 British Book Centre. The contactee classic.

The 1970s-80s abduction wave

  • John Keel, The Mothman Prophecies. 1975 Saturday Review Press first edition. Keel died 2009 — closed pool. Signed firsts are scarce.
  • John Keel, Operation Trojan Horse / Strange Creatures from Time and Space / My Haunted Planet. 1970-1971 firsts.
  • Budd Hopkins, Missing Time. 1981 Richard Marek first edition. Hopkins died 2011 — closed pool.
  • Budd Hopkins, Intruders. 1987 Random House first edition.
  • Whitley Strieber, Communion: A True Story. 1987 Beech Tree / William Morrow first edition. The number-one New York Times bestseller; signed firsts at mid-range collectible prices and up.
  • Whitley Strieber, Transformation. 1988 first.
  • John E. Mack, Abduction: Human Encounters with Aliens. 1994 Charles Scribner's Sons first edition. Harvard psychiatrist; Mack died 2004 — closed pool. Signed firsts are notable.
  • David Jacobs, Secret Life. 1992 Simon & Schuster first edition.
  • Jacques Vallée, Anatomy of a Phenomenon (1965), Passport to Magonia (1969), Messengers of Deception (1979), Dimensions (1988), Confrontations (1990). Living author; signed firsts are valued.

Project Blue Book & serious investigative literature

  • J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry. 1972 Henry Regnery first edition. Hynek led Project Blue Book's scientific consultant role; he died 1986 — closed pool. Founder of CUFOS.
  • J. Allen Hynek, The Hynek UFO Report. 1977 Dell first edition.
  • Richard Hall (NICAP), The UFO Evidence. 1964 NICAP first hardcover edition. The most ambitious early case-compilation document. Hall died 2009.
  • Project Blue Book Special Report 14 (Battelle Memorial Institute, 1955). Original printings are uncommon.
  • Original NICAP UFO Investigator newsletters (1958-1980) — substantial runs are scarce.
  • APRO Bulletin runs (Aerial Phenomena Research Organization, Tucson, 1952-1988). Lorenzen-era issues are the trophies.
  • CUFOS International UFO Reporter runs.
  • MUFON Journal / MUFON UFO Journal long runs.

Skeptical / debunking literature

  • Philip J. Klass, UFOs: The Public Deceived. 1983 Prometheus first. Klass died 2005 — closed pool. The serious skeptical authority.
  • Philip J. Klass, UFOs Explained. 1974 Random House first.
  • Donald Menzel & Lyle Boyd, The World of Flying Saucers. 1963 Doubleday first.
  • Edward U. Condon, Final Report of the Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects (the Condon Report). 1969 Bantam first paperback or 1968 New York Times Book Co. hardcover. Hardcover firsts are scarce.

Closed signature pools in UFO collecting

A signature pool closes the day an author dies. From that point forward, no new signed copies enter the market and the existing supply becomes finite. The signed-first-edition prices for these authors typically reset upward over the five years following death and continue compounding for decades. The major UFO researcher pools that have closed:

Author Born – Died Pool Closed Trophy Books
Edward J. Ruppelt1923 – 1960Sep 15, 1960The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects 1956 Doubleday
Frank Scully1892 – 1964Jun 23, 1964Behind the Flying Saucers 1950 Holt
Coral Lorenzen1925 – 1988Apr 12, 1988The Great Flying Saucer Hoax 1962; APRO Bulletin runs
Donald E. Keyhoe1897 – 1988Nov 29, 1988The Flying Saucers Are Real 1950 Fawcett pb; Flying Saucers from Outer Space 1953 Holt
J. Allen Hynek1910 – 1986Apr 27, 1986The UFO Experience 1972 Regnery
Charles Berlitz1914 – 2003Dec 18, 2003The Roswell Incident 1980 Grosset & Dunlap (with Moore)
John E. Mack1929 – 2004Sep 27, 2004Abduction 1994 Scribner
Philip J. Klass1919 – 2005Aug 9, 2005UFOs Explained 1974; UFOs: The Public Deceived 1983
Walter Haut1922 – 2005Dec 15, 2005Roswell PIO press release; signed museum-circuit memorabilia
Karl T. Pflock1943 – 2006Jun 5, 2006Roswell: Inconvenient Facts and the Will to Believe 2001 Prometheus
John A. Keel1930 – 2009Jul 3, 2009The Mothman Prophecies 1975 Saturday Review
Wendelle C. Stevens1923 – 2010Sep 7, 2010UFO Crash at Aztec 1986 (with Steinman)
Budd Hopkins1931 – 2011Aug 21, 2011Missing Time 1981 Marek; Intruders 1987 Random House
Stanton T. Friedman1934 – 2019May 13, 2019Crash at Corona 1992 Marlowe; TOP SECRET/MAJIC 1996 Marlowe

How I work a New Mexico UFO library

Free walkthrough first if the collection is shelf-or-larger. I look for the trophy clusters before anything moves, because the high-value items in a UFO library are often paperbacks shelved alongside collectible trade hardcovers and they get separated and lost in the first round of sorting. I check spines for signed-copy slipcovers, look at dust jacket condition under good light, identify the printing-history line on each foundational text, and pack anything in the closed-signature-pool category separately so it travels safely.

NMLP is a donation operation. Pickup is free; the books come with me on a donation basis; I don’t buy books. The reason I look closely at what’s here is so the trophies don’t get pulped — not so I make you a cash offer. Keep anything that matters to your family; everything else, trophies included, can go as a donation.

A note on where NMLP goes: free pickup runs the Albuquerque metro only (Albuquerque, Rio Rancho, Corrales, Placitas, Bernalillo, the East Mountains, Los Lunas, Belen, Bosque Farms, and the North and South Valley). NMLP does not drive to Roswell, Carlsbad, Hobbs, Artesia, Las Cruces, Alamogordo, Farmington, or the Aztec / Bloomfield area. If you’re bringing a library up to Albuquerque, the free 24/7 any-condition drop-off at 5445 Edith Blvd NE takes it. From the southeast, donate the everyday books to a local library Friends sale or thrift, mail the UFO shelf in (donor-paid mail-in, sorted by hand when it arrives), and text 505-250-3804 if you’d like help planning the shipment.

For most whole UFO libraries, donating is simpler: one drop-off or one pickup, no consignment wait, and every signed Friedman or Scully first is researched by hand before it’s listed.

Common donor scenarios

Roswell-area estate

A long-time Roswell or Chaves County resident's library, full of festival-era signed copies, Walker AFB material, and original Roswell Daily Record clippings. NMLP doesn't pick up in Roswell — donate the everyday books locally, and bring the UFO shelf to the free 24/7 ABQ drop-off if you're already heading up, or mail it in. Text 505-250-3804 and I'll help you plan the drop-box trip or a mail-in shipment.

Researcher's library after death

An ABQ-metro researcher accumulated decades of NICAP, APRO, MUFON publications and the full bibliography of every major author. Often these include unpublished correspondence and case notes. Handled with care, separated for archival placement when appropriate.

Military / government retiree

Walker AFB, Kirtland, Holloman, or Sandia veteran who was professionally adjacent to the topic and built a reference library. Often the best Aztec, Dulce, and Trinity-era material is in these libraries.

Festival-attendee collection

Two or three boxes accumulated from twenty years of Roswell UFO Festival visits — almost entirely signed copies from the festival circuit. Higher density of trophies per shelf-foot than any other category.

Skeptic's library

Klass, Menzel, Condon, and the academic-skeptic shelf. Smaller market than the believers' shelf but the firsts hold value and Klass's pool is closed.

Inherited basement collection

A relative was deeply into the topic and the family has no interest. Most common of all. Everything gets sorted by hand; trophies are researched before they're listed instead of disappearing, and everything else goes as a donation pickup.

Frequently asked

What's the most valuable UFO book a New Mexico estate is likely to have?
The two most consistently valuable items in a New Mexico UFO library are first-edition copies of Charles Berlitz and William Moore's 1980 The Roswell Incident (Grosset and Dunlap) and Frank Scully's 1950 Behind the Flying Saucers (Henry Holt). Signed Berlitz-Moore copies and signed Scully copies are the trophies. Behind the Flying Saucers is also significant as the first widely-circulated book to discuss the alleged 1948 Aztec, NM crash. Both books in good condition with original dust jackets sell to specialty UFO collectors at the high three-figure to low four-figure range depending on signature, condition, and provenance.
Stanton Friedman died in 2019. Are signed copies more valuable now?
Yes. Friedman died on April 13, 2019, which closed his signature pool — no new signed copies enter the market. Signed first editions of Crash at Corona (1992 Marlowe), TOP SECRET/MAJIC (1996 Marlowe), and Captured! The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience (2007 New Page) have appreciated meaningfully since 2019. Friedman was one of the most prolific signing UFO researchers of his generation; his market is one of the more active closed-pool markets in UFO collecting.
I have a Roswell-area UFO library outside Albuquerque. Does NMLP pick up there?
No. NMLP's free pickup runs the Albuquerque metro only (Albuquerque, Rio Rancho, Corrales, Placitas, Bernalillo, the East Mountains, Los Lunas, Belen, Bosque Farms, and the North and South Valley). NMLP does not travel to Roswell, Carlsbad, Hobbs, Las Cruces, Alamogordo, Farmington, or the Aztec / Bloomfield area. If you're already coming to Albuquerque, the free 24/7 any-condition drop-off at 5445 Edith Blvd NE works for a library of any size. From Roswell and the southeast, the everyday books can go to the Roswell Public Library Friends book sale or a local thrift, and the UFO shelf itself can come in by donor-paid mail-in (you cover the postage, I sort every box by hand). Text 505-250-3804 and I'll help you plan the drop-box trip or a mail-in shipment.
What about NICAP, APRO, and MUFON journal runs?
Original journal and bulletin runs are some of the most overlooked items in UFO libraries. NICAP's UFO Investigator (1958-1980), APRO Bulletin (Aerial Phenomena Research Organization, Tucson, 1952-1988), CUFOS International UFO Reporter, and MUFON Journal complete or substantial runs are scarce and valued by specialty researchers and academic libraries. Per-issue value is modest, but a complete run from one researcher's career can be a significant cluster. I always pull these out separately.
What's the deal with the Aztec crash material?
The alleged 1948 Aztec, NM crash predates Roswell in some chronologies and was first widely discussed in Frank Scully's 1950 Behind the Flying Saucers. Books on the Aztec story are a thinner market than Roswell but trade at premium prices because the body of literature is small: Scully 1950, Bill Steinman and Wendelle Stevens UFO Crash at Aztec 1986 (Sherbrooke, Tucson), Scott Ramsey and Suzanne Ramsey The Aztec UFO Incident 2011, and a handful of regional newspaper compilations. Signed Scott Ramsey copies are notable. Wendelle Stevens died in 2010, closing his signature pool.
Are paperback original UFO books worth anything?
The 1950s and 1960s mass-market paperbacks are the surprise of the UFO market. Donald Keyhoe's first paperback The Flying Saucers Are Real (1950 Fawcett Crest) in collector-grade condition with the original cover sells in the three figures. Keyhoe's later Fawcett paperbacks, the early Frank Edwards titles (Flying Saucers - Serious Business 1966 Lyle Stuart hardcover and its paperback follow-ups), and the original APRO and CSI publications all have specialty markets. Condition matters a lot in this category — bright covers, intact spines, no rolling, no edge-wear.
I have a relative's collection from the 1970s-80s contactee era. Worth anything?
The contactee literature (George Adamski, George Van Tassel, Howard Menger, Daniel Fry, Truman Bethurum) trades at lower prices than the harder-edged Roswell and abduction literature, but first editions in good condition still sell at the mid-range collectible zone each, more for signed copies. Adamski's Inside the Space Ships (1955) and Flying Saucers Have Landed (1953 with Desmond Leslie) are the trophies of that subgenre. The 1950s lecture-circuit signed copies show up in Albuquerque and Sedona-adjacent estates more than people expect.

Related references

UFO library to donate?

Text 505-250-3804; you don’t need to identify anything first. Free donation pickup across the Albuquerque metro; from anywhere else, use the 24/7 drop box on Edith Blvd or mail the books in. NMLP doesn’t buy books, and every trophy is researched before it’s listed.

Call 505-250-3804 Text photos Schedule pickup

Related: New Mexico UFO, Roswell Incident & Unexplained Phenomena: A Book Collector’s Authority Guide

Related: Roswell UFO & Conspiracy Books: A Collector's Authority Guide to the New Mexico Canon