Agent of Vega — Schmitz/Woolhiser, Permabooks 1962

📖 Agent of Vega by James H. Schmitz (1962, Permabooks) — the first paperback edition collecting four linked stories that launched the Federation of the Hub / Agents of Vega universe. This Permabooks M-4242 mass-market paperback preserves the original 35¢ cover price and John Woolhiser’s quintessential mid-century space-opera cover art.

QUICK FACTS

• Author: James H. Schmitz (1911–1981)
• Publisher: Permabooks / Pocket Books, Inc., New York
• Year: 1962 (June) — first paperback edition (original hardcover Gnome Press, 1960)
• Format: Mass-market paperback, no dust jacket
• Pages: 185 | ISBN: None (pre-ISBN era)
• Catalog: Permabook M-4242, original 35¢ cover price
• Cover Artist: John Woolhiser
• Condition: Very Good+ (VG+) — full report below

THE STORY

Agent of Vega collects four interrelated stories originally published in Astounding and Galaxy between 1949 and 1951, introducing the Vegan Confederacy and its Department of Galactic Zones — a galactic secret police force staffed by telepathic agents. The title story (“Agent of Vega,” 1949) follows Zone Agent Iliff and the Lannai telepath Pagadan as they uncover a conspiracy by noncorporeal Ceetal aliens who have infiltrated nearly a thousand star systems. The collection established Schmitz’s reputation for capable, intelligent female protagonists operating in a space-opera framework free of the genre’s typical sexual role-playing clichés, with psi powers and galactic espionage as recurring themes.

THIS EDITION

This is the first paperback edition (Permabooks M-4242, June 1962), following the 1960 Gnome Press hardcover (191 pages, cover by W. I. Van der Poel). The Permabooks printing compresses the text to 185 pages and features new cover art by John Woolhiser. The copyright page notes the stories are “based upon” earlier magazine appearances and may have been revised for book publication. The last page carries a period advertisement for Hillel Black’s Buy Now, Pay Later — a consumer-debt warning typical of Permabooks rear-page filler.

COVER ART / ILLUSTRATIONS / DESIGN

The front cover showcases John Woolhiser’s quintessential 1960s space-opera illustration: a lone figure in a deep purple-and-white spacesuit stands before a towering green-blue monolith on an alien reddish-brown landscape, beneath a pale blue sky with multiple celestial bodies (a large blue planet, a yellow sun) and a silver spaceship in flight. Title lettering is bold black sans-serif (“AGENT OF VEGA” stacked) with the author’s name in smaller black caps and a red blurb (“THE FANTASTIC STORY, SET CENTURIES IN THE FUTURE, OF A GALACTIC WAR FOR CONTROL OF THE UNIVERSE”). The spine reads “PERMABOOKS M-4242” and “THE COMPLETE EDITION PUBLISHED BY POCKET BOOKS, INC.” with the 35¢ price at the top. The back cover carries the “Fantastic but true!” headline and a narrative blurb composed of dialogue excerpts from the title story. The cover shows minor rubbing to extremities, a lightly canted spine with slight edge chipping at head and tail, and faint tanning on the white top edges — consistent with the VG+ grade.

WHY IT MATTERS

• First paperback edition of Schmitz’s debut collection, launching the Agents of Vega / Federation of the Hub sequence that expanded into the Telzey Amberdon and Trigger Argee subseries
• Cover art by John Woolhiser — a defining example of 1960s mass-market SF paperback illustration
• Notable for its era in centering a non-human female telepath (Pagadan) as co-protagonist, anticipating the strong female leads (Telzey Amberdon, Trigger Argee) that became Schmitz’s hallmark
• Original 35¢ cover price and Permabooks M-4242 catalog number intact — key identifiers for collectors of mid-century SF paperbacks

FREQUENTLY ASKED

What edition is this? First paperback edition, Permabooks M-4242, June 1962 (original hardcover: Gnome Press, 1960).

What condition is it in? Very Good+ (VG+) — vibrant cover with minor rubbing, lightly canted spine with slight edge chipping, firm binding, clean interior — full report below.

What stories are included? Four linked tales: “Agent of Vega” (1949), “The Illusionists” (1951, originally “Space Fear”), “The Truth About Cushgar” (1950), and “The Second Night of Summer” (1950), all originally in Astounding or Galaxy.

Is there an ISBN? No — published in 1962, before the ISBN system was adopted in the US (1970). Catalog number M-4242 serves as the identifier.

FOR COLLECTORS

This copy retains the original 35¢ cover price on the spine and the complete Permabooks M-4242 catalog designation — both key verification points for first-edition Permabooks paperbacks. The John Woolhiser cover art appears only on this edition; later printings (Tempo 1972, Ace 1982/1983) feature different artists (Boris Vallejo, Frank Kelly Freas).

#### **Condition Report**
* **Overall Grade:** Very Good+ (VG+)
* **Cover & Spine:** Vibrant cover with minor rubbing to extremities. Uncreased, lightly canted spine with a little edge chipping at the head and tail. Just the slightest hint of tanning on the white portions of the front and back top edges.
* **Text Block & Pages:** Uniform, lightly age-toned text block edges; interior pages remain clean, supple, and intact.
* **Binding:** Firm, no loose, torn or folded pages, no tags or writing.
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See accompanying images for full condition details. Will ship promptly, carefully packaged.

HFB-SEO-v1: 2026-11-02

Shelf: [3-top]

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