On his return to England, Baden-Powell found that his military field manual Aids to Scouting had found an audience amongst teachers and youth organisations who had begun to use it to train boys in skills such as tracking and observation. Encouraged by his friends, and inspired by Ernest Thompson Seton’s The Birchbark Roll of the Woodcraft Indians, Baden-Powell subsequently decided to write a non-military version of his book specifically for boys.
Before Scouting for Boys was published, Baden-Powell first tested his approach with a diverse group of 21 boys on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, Dorset. The week-long camp in the summer on 1907 saw the first trials of what was to become the Patrol System as Baden-Powell and his assistants taught the boys a broad range of skills such as woodcraft, observation, and lifesaving techniques.
Following the success of the Brownsea camp, Scouting for Boys was published in six fortnightly instalments by Baden-Powell’s friend, the newspaper magnate Sir Arthur Pearson. Beginning on 24 January 1908, it proved to be an immediate sensation and, within a matter months, Scout Troops had begun to form throughout Britain and its empire. The six instalments were then combined into a single book that went on sale in May and, with regular revisions, it has become one of the best-selling books of all time.
1908-1-24 "Scouting for Boys" ..
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