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"The Thirty-Nine Steps" (1915) and its sequel, "Greenmantle" (1916), are the first two novels featuring the spy Richard Hannay. With them, John Buchan established the gold standard for the modern thriller and charted a course for authors such as Graham Greene, Ian Fleming, John le Carré, and Frederick Forsyth—prominent figures among the many writers who have imitated, engaged with, drawn inspiration from, or responded to Buchan’s formula. Written in a direct, clear, and entertaining style, both books introduce key themes that have defined much of spy fiction to this day: the tension between barbarism and civilization (particularly within the international geopolitical context), the solipsism of the modern agent, the handling of secret information, the view of espionage as an unheroic yet inexorable task, paranoia as a pillar of national identity, the use of technology to (re)territorialize space, the management of moral decay, and, ultimately, spiritual redemption. In this volume, Eduardo Valls Oyarzun presents a fresh, meticulously crafted translation of both novels alongside a comprehensive analysis of Buchan’s work—including a comparison between *The Thirty-Nine Steps* and Alfred Hitchcock’s celebrated film adaptation—as well as numerous textual notes.