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Scouting for Boys

Cover of first part of Scouting For Boys, January 1908
Author	Robert Baden-Powell
Illustrator	Robert Baden-Powell
Cover artist	John Hassall
Language	English
Subject	Scouting
Genre	Boy's handbook
Published	24 January 1908 Horace Cox
Publication place	United Kingdom
OCLC	492503066

Scouting for Boys: A handbook for instruction in good citizenship is a book on Boy Scout training, published in various editions since 1908. Early editions were written and illustrated by Robert Baden-Powell with later editions being extensively rewritten by others. The book was originally a manual for self-instruction in observation, tracking and woodcraft skills as well as self-discipline and self-improvement, about the British Empire and duty as citizens with an eclectic mix of anecdotes and unabashed personal observations and recollections. It is pervaded by a degree of moral proselytizing and references to the author's own exploits. It is based on his boyhood experiences, his experience with the Mafeking Cadet Corps during the Second Boer War at the siege of Mafeking, and on his experimental camp on Brownsea Island, England.

History

Scouting for Boys (1908) was Baden-Powell's rewrite of his earlier book Aids to Scouting (1899) with many youth training ideas openly taken from The Birch Bark Roll of the Woodcraft Indians (1906) written by Ernest Thompson Seton, who later became the Chief Scout of the Boy Scouts of America. Aids to Scouting was mostly a written explanation of the military scouting and self-reliance skills lessons Baden-Powell had learned from Frederick Russell Burnham, the British Army Chief of Scouts, but following the siege of Mafeking this military handbook unexpectedly became popular with many youth groups and educators, like Charlotte Mason, in Britain. At Mafeking, Baden-Powell's adjutant had recruited and trained boys aged 12–15 as cadets and during the siege they acted as postmen, messengers, and later to carry the wounded, to free men for fighting. Upon his return to England, following the Second Boer War, Baden-Powell learned some British schools had been using Aids to Scouting to teach observation and deduction. In 1906, Seton discussed youth training ideas with Baden-Powell and shared with him a copy of The Birch Bark Roll of the Woodcraft Indians. Soon after, Baden-Powell decided to revise Aids to Scouting into a book for boys. Several friends supported Baden-Powell, including Sir William Alexander Smith, founder of the Boys' Brigade, Cyril Arthur Pearson, who owned newspapers and printing presses, and the novelist Maria Fetherstonhaugh, who provided a quiet Wimbledon house where he could write. Baden-Powell wrote a draft, then called Boy Patrols, which he used and tested with 22 boys for one week at camp on Brownsea Island in the summer of 1907, where Pearson's literary editor Percy Everett assisted.

Scouting for Boys was published in six fortnightly instalments of approximately 70 pages each, from January to March 1908. They were produced by Pearson's printer, Horace Cox. These six publications were a success and, as planned, were issued in book form on 1 May 1908. Although Aids to Scouting strongly influenced the book, Scouting for Boys presents Scouting from the perspective of outdoorsmen and explorers rather than military men, and it adds the Scout Oath, Scout Law, honours and games for youth. The book was revised and an enormous variety of editions were published. Many of these editions were edited by others and, far beyond mere editing, whole sections were written by authors other than Baden-Powell. The book was a best seller upon release, and, in its various editions, is claimed to have become one of the best-selling books in history. Scouting for Boys has been translated into many languages. In 1948, editions of the book were still selling 50,000 copies annually. Only in 1967 was a decline noted by the publisher and in the last decades of the 20th century the book came to be seen as a period curiosity even by the Scout Movement. It is claimed to be the fourth bestselling book of the 20th century. A realistic estimate is that approximately 4 million copies of the UK edition have been sold. Extrapolating this to 87 different language editions worldwide, historic world sales of Scouting for Boys can be estimated at 100 to 150 million copies since 1908.

In her introduction to the 2005 edition, Elleke Boehmer criticises the book saying "the text was deeply scored through with a contemporary class prejudice which would have been off-putting to non-middle-class readers, as captured in the sharp aphorism that bees form a 'model community, for they respect their Queen and kill their unemployed' (p. 117) Character observation in many ways meant reading for the signs of working-class poverty."

Editions

Scouting for Boys has been published in over thirty consecutive editions by London based C. Arthur Pearson Ltd., and it is translated to all the major languages of the world. Estimatedly, over 100 million books have been printed, making it rank high in the list of best-selling books. The internet page www.scoutingforboysroundtheworld.org has identified more than 300 different editions and included them in a database accessible via this internet page. Users can also add missing editions to the database themselves.

British editions

• Scouting for Boys (First published ed.). London, Windsor House, Bream's Buildings, E.C.: Horace Cox (printer for C.A. Pearson). January–March 1908. pp. six instalments of approx 70 pages each.
• Scouting for Boys (1st bookform, cloth-bound ed.). London, Henrietta Street: C. Arthur Pearson Ltd. 1 May 1908. pp. 288 pages.
• Scouting for Boys (2nd revised ed.). London: C. Arthur Pearson Ltd. June 1909. pp. 310 pages. plus advertisements
• Scouting for Boys (3rd enlarged ed.). London: C. Arthur Pearson Ltd. July 1910.
• Scouting for Boys (4th enlarged and revised ed.). London: C. Arthur Pearson Ltd. October 1911.
• Scouting for Boys (5th ed.). London: C. Arthur Pearson Ltd. November 1912.
• Scouting for Boys (6th ed.). London: C. Arthur Pearson Ltd. April 1913.
• Scouting for Boys (7th ed.). London: C. Arthur Pearson Ltd. December 1913.
• Scouting for Boys (8th ed.). London: C. Arthur Pearson Ltd. January 1916. pp. 352 pages.
• Scouting for Boys (9th ed.). London: C. Arthur Pearson Ltd. May 1918. pp. 334 pages.
• Scouting for Boys (11th ed.). London, Tower House: C. Arthur Pearson Ltd. 1924. pp. 338 pages.
• Scouting for Boys (12th ed.). London: C. Arthur Pearson Ltd. 1926. pp. 338 pages.
• Scouting for Boys (13th ed.). London: C. Arthur Pearson Ltd. January 1928. pp. 338 pages.
• Baden-Powell's Scouting for Boys (Boy's ed.). London: C. Arthur Pearson Ltd. 1932. pp. 226 pages.
• Sgowtio i Fechgyn gan Arglwydd Baden-Powell o Gilwel (Argraffiad y Bechgyn ed.). Caerfyrddin: W. Spurrell a'i Fab. 1932. pp. 232 pages.
• Baden-Powell's Scouting for Boys (Memorial 22nd ed.). London: C. Arthur Pearson Ltd. 1944. pp. 328 pages.
• Baden-Powell's Scouting for Boys (30th ed.). London: C. Arthur Pearson Ltd. 1957. pp. 328 pages.
• Scouting for Boys (33rd ed.). London: C. Arthur Pearson Ltd. 1961. pp. 330 pages.
• Scouting for Boys (abridged ed.). London: The Boy Scouts Association. 1963. pp. 182 pages.
• Scouting for Boys (paperback ed.). The Scout Association. 1998. ISBN 0-85165-247-6.
• Elleke Boehmer, ed. (2004). Scouting for Boys (hard cover ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-280547-9.
• Elleke Boehmer, ed. (June 2005). Scouting for Boys (paperback ed.). Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 448 pages. ISBN 0-19-280246-1.

Other editions

• Scouting for Boys (Special Canadian ed.). Ottawa: The Boy Scouts Association. 1939. pp. 334 pages.
• Jan Schaap, ed. (1944). Het verkennen voor jongens (in Dutch) (5th, cloth bound ed.). 's-Gravenhage: De Nederlandsche Padvinders. pp. 269 pages.
• Scouting for Boys in India (1st Indian ed.). General Headquarters of the Boy Scout Association in India. 1946. pp. 316 pages.
• Scouting for Boys (World Brotherhood ed.). Boy Scouts of America for and on behalf of the Boy Scouts International Bureau. 1946. pp. 328 pages.
• Het verkennen voor jongens (in Dutch) (6th, hard cover ed.). 's-Gravenhage: Nationale Padvindersraad. c. 1950. pp. 395 pages.
• Scouting for Boys. Boy Scouts of Canada. 1973. pp. 331 pages.
• Mir Mohammad Mohsin, ed. (1973). Scouting brā'ē tiflān (in Urdu). Islamabad: National Book Foundation.
• Theo P.M. Palstra, ed. (1977). Verkennen voor jeugd (in Dutch) (10th, paperback ed.). Amersfoort: Scouting Nederland. pp. 301 pages.
• Fausto Catani, ed. (1978). Scautismo per ragazzi (in Italian). Milan: Ancora. pp. 438 pages.
• Baden-Powell's Scouting for Boys (Brownsea jubilee ed.). Boy Scouts of America. 1982. ISBN 0-8395-3591-0.
• P.V. Paulose, ed. (1982). Skauttingu-kuttikalkku (in Malayalam). Trivandrum: Bharat Scouts and Guides. pp. 456 pages.
• Pfadfinder: ein Handbuch der Erziehung (in German) (13th ed.). Bern: Pfadfinder-Materialbüro. 1983. pp. 315 pages.
• Frithiof Dahlby, ed. (1983). Scouting for Boys (in Swedish). Stockholm: Scoutförl. pp. 192 pages.
• Paula Koho, ed. (1986). Partiopojan kirja (in Finnish) (3rd ed.). Helsinki: Partiokirja. pp. 350 pages.
• Stanisław Kapiszewski, ed. (1990). Skauting dla chłopców : wychowanie dobrego obywatela metodą puszczańską (in Polish). Warsaw: Oficyna Przeglądu Powszechnego. pp. 375 pages.
• József Illy, ed. (1994). Cserkészet fiúknak: kézikönyv a jó állampolgár neveléséhez az erdőjárás révén (in Hungarian). Budapest: M. Cserkészcsapatok Szövets. pp. 277 pages.
• José Francisco dos Santos, ed. (May 1993). Escutismo para rapazes (in Portuguese). Lisbon: Corpo Nacional de Escutas. pp. 310 pages.
• Peter Bleeser, ed. (1996). Pfadfinder (in German) (3rd ed.). Neuss: Georgs-Verlag. pp. 309 pages.
• R. Chandrasekharan, ed. (2000). Bālakarigāgi skauting (in Kannada). Bangalore: Navakarnataka. pp. 321 pages.
• Kevin Y.L. Tan, ed. (2004). Scouting for Boys (in Malay) (hard cover ed.). Singapore: Brownsea Singapore. ISBN 981-05-1830-7.
• B. Ramachandran, LT(S), ed. (2008). Siruvar Saaraniyam (Tamil) (in Tamil). Chennai: BRJB Publishers. pp. 335 pages.
• Scouting for Boys – cercetășia pe înțelesul tuturor (in Romanian). Scout Shop. 2017. pp. 280 pages. ISBN 978-973-0-25814-1.

Contents

All parts of the six installments in 1908 have the title Scouting for Boys in big capitals. With a listed price of '4d. net', it was affordable to many boys, many of whom would have been at work, as the school-leaving age was 14. Authorship is attributed thus: 'by B-P (Lieut. Gen. Baden Powell C.B.)' (sic).

Most chapters start with hints to instructors. All chapters have campfire yarns, appealing to boys, most contain sections with games and activities, and they close with recommendations for books to read.

Part I. Scoutcraft

The first installment contains pages 3 to 70. It provides the basic details of Scouting.

Part II. Tracking, Woodcraft

The second part covers pages 71 to 142. It contains chapter II on tracking and chapter III on woodcraft, each with three camp fire yarns.

Part III. Camp life, Campaigning

The third part covers pages 143 to 206. It contains chapter IV on camp life, and chapter V on campaigning.

Part IV. Endurance and chivalry

The fourth part covers pages 207 to 270. It contains chapter VI Endurance for Scouts, or How to be strong, and chapter VII Chivalry of the knights.

Part V. Saving life and patriotism

The fifth part covers pages 271 to 334. It contains chapter VIII Saving life, or how to deal with accidents, and chapter IX Patriotism, or our duties as citizens.

Part VI. Notes for instructors, Scouting games, practices, and displays

The sixth part covers pages 335 to 398. It contains Notes to instructors and Scouting games, practices, and displays.

Copyright status

Copyright to Scouting for Boys expired on 31 December 2011, at the end of the 70th year after the death of its author on 8 January 1941 and the book is now in the public domain. Baden-Powell had given his copyright to the book to The Scout Association which owned the copyright in the UK, until it expired. The Boy Scouts of America was granted a copyright licence by Baden-Powell himself for their Boy Scout Handbook, written during the BSA's formal founding in 1910.

See also

• The Wolf Cub's Handbook (1916), for Wolf Cubs (Cub Scouts)
• Rovering to Success (1922), for Rovers
• Aids to Scoutmastership (1920), for Scoutmasters
• Baden-Powell (1989) – biography of Baden-Powell

References

1. "Boy Scouts movement begins". history.com. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
2. Baden-Powell, Robert (1899). Aids to scouting for N.-C.Os. & men. London: Gale & Polden. OCLC 316520848.
3. Seton, Ernest Thompson (1906). The birch-bark roll of the woodcraft Indians: containing their constitution, laws, games and deeds. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 9780665987854. OCLC 150622085.
4. ^ "First Scouting Handbook". Order of the Arrow, Boy Scouts of America. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
5. ^ "Woodcraft Indians". Order of the Arrow, Boy Scouts of America. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
6. "Aids to Scouting". Johnny Walker's Scouting Milestones. 2007. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
7. "Be Prepared". DGS: Scouting, Interview from Listener magazine. 1937. Archived from the original on 20 January 2007. Retrieved 22 January 2007.
8. ^ Boehmer, Elleke (2004). Notes to 2004 edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
9. Wimbledon Guardian, 22 February 2013. Retrieved 4 November 2018.
10. Smith, David (22 April 2007). "Scouts uncool? Not in my book". The Observer. Retrieved 17 August 2007.
11. Hislop, Ian (10 June 2007). "The Edwardians". BBC Four. Retrieved 31 October 2007.
12. ^ Jeal, Tim (1989). Baden-Powell. London: Hutchinson. ISBN 0-09-170670-X.
13. "UK and World Census figures". The Scout Association. Archived from the original on 14 November 2010. Retrieved 12 February 2008.
14. Elleke Boehmer (ed), 2005, p. xxii
15. Extrapolation for global range of other language publications, and related to the number of Scouts, make a realistic estimate of 100 to 150 million books. Details from Jeal, Tim. Baden-Powell. London: Hutchinson. ISBN 0-09-170670-X.
16. Rohrer, Finlo (27 July 2007). "What would Baden-Powell do?". BBC News Magazine. Retrieved 30 October 2007.
17. "Copyright. A guide to reproducing material owned by The Scout Association" (PDF). The Scout Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2012. Retrieved 26 February 2010.

External links

• Full on-line text of Scouting for Boys by The Dump, resources for Scouting
• Scouting for Boys 'Round the world, worldwide overview of editions of Scouting for Boys

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