Scouting for Boys

Scouting for Boys (1908) was Baden-Powell's rewrite of his earlier book Aids to Scouting (1899){{cite book |last=Baden-Powell |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell |title=Aids to scouting for N.-C.Os. & men |publisher=Gale & Polden |date=1899 |location=London |oclc=316520848}} with many youth training ideas openly taken from The Birch Bark Roll of the Woodcraft Indians (1906){{cite book |last=Seton |first=Ernest Thompson |author-link=Ernest Thompson Seton |title=The birch-bark roll of the woodcraft Indians: containing their constitution, laws, games and deeds |url=https://archive.org/details/cihm_98785 |publisher=Doubleday |date=1906 |location=New York |isbn=9780665987854 |oclc=150622085}} written by Ernest Thompson Seton, who later became the Chief Scout of the Boy Scouts of America.{{cite web |title=First Scouting Handbook |publisher=Order of the Arrow, Boy Scouts of America |url=http://history.oa-bsa.org/node/3019 |access-date=29 September 2014}}{{cite web |title=Woodcraft Indians |publisher=Order of the Arrow, Boy Scouts of America |url=http://history.oa-bsa.org/node/3039 |access-date=29 September 2014}} 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.{{cite web |year=2007 |url=http://scoutguidehistoricalsociety.com/aids.htm |title=Aids to Scouting| publisher=Johnny Walker's Scouting Milestones |access-date=1 June 2015}}{{cite web |year=1937 |url=http://www.dshearer.fsbusiness.co.uk/sctfiles/bp_talks.htm |title=Be Prepared| publisher=DGS: Scouting, Interview from Listener magazine |access-date=22 January 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070120055426/http://www.dshearer.fsbusiness.co.uk/sctfiles/bp_talks.htm |archive-date=20 January 2007}} 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.{{cite book |first=Elleke |last=Boehmer |author-link=Elleke Boehmer |title=Notes to 2004 edition |year=2004 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford}}[https://www.wimbledonguardian.co.uk/news/10246444.Baden_Powell___Always_prepared/ Wimbledon Guardian, 22 February 2013. Retrieved 4 November 2018.] 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 {{lang|en-GB|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.{{cite news | last = Smith | first = David | title = Scouts uncool? Not in my book |work=The Observer | date =22 April 2007 | url = http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2062862,00.html | access-date = 2007-08-17}}{{cite web | first = Ian | last = Hislop | title = The Edwardians | url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/scouting-for-boys.shtml | publisher = BBC Four | date = 10 June 2007 | access-date = 2007-10-31}} 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.{{cite web | title = UK and World Census figures | url = http://www.scoutbase.org.uk/library/history/census.htm | publisher = The Scout Association | access-date = 2008-02-12 | archive-date = 14 November 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101114133222/http://www.scoutbase.org.uk/library/history/census.htm | url-status = dead }}

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."Elleke Boehmer (ed), 2005, p. xxii

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.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}}. 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.

• {{cite book | title = Scouting for Boys | edition = First published |date=January–March 1908 | publisher = Horace Cox (printer for C.A. Pearson) | location = London, Windsor House, Bream's Buildings, E.C. | pages = six instalments of approx 70 pages each}}
• {{cite book | title = Scouting for Boys | edition = 1st bookform, cloth-bound | date = 1 May 1908 | publisher = C. Arthur Pearson Ltd | location = London, Henrietta Street | pages = 288 pages }}
• {{cite book | title = Scouting for Boys | publisher = C. Arthur Pearson Ltd | location = London | edition = 2nd revised | date=June 1909 | pages = 310 pages }} plus advertisements
• {{cite book | title = Scouting for Boys | publisher = C. Arthur Pearson Ltd | location = London | edition = 3rd enlarged |date=July 1910}}
• {{cite book | title = Scouting for Boys | publisher = C. Arthur Pearson Ltd | location = London | edition = 4th enlarged and revised |date=October 1911}}
• {{cite book | title = Scouting for Boys | publisher = C. Arthur Pearson Ltd | location = London | edition = 5th |date=November 1912}}
• {{cite book | title = Scouting for Boys | publisher = C. Arthur Pearson Ltd | location = London | edition = 6th |date=April 1913}}
• {{cite book | title = Scouting for Boys | publisher = C. Arthur Pearson Ltd | location = London | edition = 7th |date=December 1913}}
• {{cite book | title = Scouting for Boys | publisher = C. Arthur Pearson Ltd | location = London | edition = 8th |date=January 1916 | pages = 352 pages}}
• {{cite book | title = Scouting for Boys | publisher = C. Arthur Pearson Ltd | location = London | edition = 9th |date=May 1918 | pages = 334 pages}}
• {{cite book | title = Scouting for Boys | publisher = C. Arthur Pearson Ltd | location = London, Tower House | edition = 11th | year = 1924 | pages = 338 pages }}
• {{cite book | title = Scouting for Boys | publisher = C. Arthur Pearson Ltd | location = London | edition = 12th | year = 1926 | pages = 338 pages}}
• {{cite book | title = Scouting for Boys | publisher = C. Arthur Pearson Ltd | location = London | edition = 13th | date=January 1928 | pages = 338 pages}}
• {{cite book | title = Baden-Powell's Scouting for Boys | publisher = C. Arthur Pearson Ltd | location = London | edition = Boy's | year = 1932 | pages = 226 pages}}
• {{cite book | title = Sgowtio i Fechgyn gan Arglwydd Baden-Powell o Gilwel. | publisher = W. Spurrell a'i Fab| location = Caerfyrddin | edition = Argraffiad y Bechgyn | year = 1932 | pages = 232 pages}}
• {{cite book | title = Baden-Powell's Scouting for Boys | publisher = C. Arthur Pearson Ltd | location = London | edition = Memorial 22nd | year = 1944 | pages = 328 pages}}
• {{cite book | title = Baden-Powell's Scouting for Boys | publisher = C. Arthur Pearson Ltd | location = London | edition = 30th | year = 1957 | pages = 328 pages}}
• {{cite book | title = Scouting for Boys | publisher = C. Arthur Pearson Ltd | location = London | edition = 33rd | year = 1961 | pages = 330 pages}}
• {{cite book | title = Scouting for Boys | publisher = The Boy Scouts Association | location = London | edition = abridged | year = 1963 | pages = 182 pages}}
• {{cite book | title = Scouting for Boys | edition = paperback | publisher = The Scout Association | year = 1998 | isbn = 0-85165-247-6}}
• {{cite book | title = Scouting for Boys | editor = Elleke Boehmer | editor-link = Elleke Boehmer | edition = hard cover | publisher = Oxford University Press | location = Oxford | year = 2004 | isbn = 0-19-280547-9 }}
• {{cite book | title = Scouting for Boys | editor = Elleke Boehmer | edition = paperback | publisher = Oxford University Press | location = Oxford/New York |date=June 2005 | isbn = 0-19-280246-1 | url = http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/TravelSportsRecreation/Recreation/?view=usa&ci=9780192802460 | pages = 448 pages }}

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

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.{{cite news | title = What would Baden-Powell do? | first = Finlo | last = Rohrer | work = BBC News Magazine | date = 27 July 2007 | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/6918066.stm | access-date = 2007-10-30}}

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.{{cite web | title = Copyright. A guide to reproducing material owned by The Scout Association | publisher = The Scout Association | url = http://www.ingleboroughscouts.org.uk/factsheets_and_forms/factsheets/Copyright.pdf | access-date = 2010-02-26 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120303231401/http://www.ingleboroughscouts.org.uk/factsheets_and_forms/factsheets/Copyright.pdf | archive-date = 3 March 2012 | df = dmy-all }} 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.{{cite book | first = Tim | last = Jeal | author-link = Tim Jeal | title = Baden-Powell | publisher = Hutchinson | location = London| year = 1989 | isbn = 0-09-170670-X }}

{{Portal|Scouting}}

• 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

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.thedump.scoutscan.com/s4b.html Full on-line text of Scouting for Boys by The Dump, resources for Scouting]
• [http://scoutingforboysroundtheworld.org Scouting for Boys 'Round the world], worldwide overview of editions of Scouting for Boys

{{Scouting|movement}}

{{Use British English|date=July 2014}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scouting For Boys}}

Category:Scouting

Category:1908 non-fiction books