Books

London: Gaumont, 1935. Softcover. Near Fine. Original pressbook, American issue with American ads distributed in New York by the Gaumont Picture Corporation of America for the classic 1935 film, based on the 1915 novel by John Buchan. Card wrappers with a color lithograph design, saddle stitched, 12" x 18". 20pp. Faint horizontal fold as issued. Some minute nicking at the edges, pages slightly toned, but bright and very near fine. *The 39 Steps* is often considered Hitchcock's first masterpiece in a career noted for several. His adaptation of Buchan's novel proved (as usual) to be an improvement on the source material, adding two female characters and removing a couple of serious implausibilities. Another aspect of inestimable importance is that Hitchcock found in this film a theme that would become his favorite: an innocent man on the run, clever and resourceful, but surrounded by a conspiracy neither he nor the audience understands. A rare and blazingly beautiful artifact from…

The Thirty-Nine Steps is an adventure novel by the Scottish author John Buchan. It first appeared as a serial in Blackwood's Magazine in August and September 1915 before being published in book form in October that year by William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh. It is the first of five novels featuring Richard Hannay, an all-action hero with a stiff upper lip and a knack for getting out of sticky situations.