  We report the discovery of a new bright quasar PHL 1811 as part of a followup
program to identify bright quasars in the FIRST radio survey. With B=13.9,
R=13.9, and z=0.192, this quasar is now the second brightest quasar (in
apparent magnitude) known beyond z=0.1. Optically classified as a Narrow-line
Seyfert 1 galaxy (NLS1), PHL 1811 is unusual for an object in this class in
that it was not detected in X-rays in the ROSAT All Sky survey or in any
previous X-ray survey. A follow-up BeppoSAX observation confirms that it is
deficient in X-rays compared with other quasars, but poor signal to noise
prevents a definitive characterization of the X-ray spectrum. We consider three
alternative hypotheses to explain why PHL 1811 is a weak X-ray source: 1.) it
is a BALQSO and suffers X-ray absorption; 2.) like several other luminous
NLS1s, it exhibits high amplitude X-ray variability, and has been observed only
when it is in an X-ray quiescent state; 3.) it is intrinsically weak because it
simply lacks an X-ray emitting region.
