John Buchan — The Thirty-Nine Steps

Edinburgh and London, William Blackwood and Sons, 1915 . First edition. Cloth. The the first edition, first impression of John Buchan's celebrated espionage thriller, following Richard Hannay as he must go on the run. The first edition, first impression.Originally serialised in Blackwood's Magazine, 'The Thirty Nine Steps' is the first of five novels featuring Buchan's hero Richard Hannay. 'The Thirty-Nine Steps' by John Buchan is a suspenseful novel which follows the stiff-upper-lipped Hannay as he attempts to evade the same fate as a man called Scudder, who is murdered in his flat. This work is one of the earliest examples of the "man-on-the-run" trope which became a standard feature of many thrillers since.In 1935 Alfred Hitchcock directed an adaptation of the novel, starring Friedrich Robert Donat. Hitchcock's adaptation was deemed a "masterpiece" by Orson Welles and was rated the fourth best British film of the twentieth century by British Film Institute in 1999. With advertisement leaf to the rear.  In a facsimile dust wrapper. In the publisher's original cloth binding. Light edgewear to back strip tail, with a touch of rubbing to joints. Board perimeters lightly age toned, with circular mark towards tail of front board. In an excellent facsimile dust wrapper. Front hinge neatly reinforced with paper, with rear hinge a touch strained to head, with board firmly held. Internally, firmly bound. Pages significantly age toned to perimeters, but clean. Very Good . Ill.: None. Very Good .