Anyone have any thoughts on the oldest commercially published tome dedicated to just Survival, as opposed to covering it tangentially or as a single chapter?
I'd say
1855 - the first edition of
"
The Art of Travel: Or, Shifts and Contrivances Available in Wild Countries", by Francis Galton (195 pp).
(or the 1856 2nd edition, if you insist it include material on signal mirrors
...)
You might argue that it is more of a bushcraft/fieldcraft book than a survival book (since it doesn't assume you are lost from square one).
However, if you only got one book to take with you when marooned, I'm thinking this 1855 book might be a better choice than many books with "SURVIVAL" as the title.
The 5th edition (1872) is still in print, by Barnes & Noble, for example.
(Of course, with copyright long lapsed, you can download it for free in many ebook formats).
For versions browsable online or downloadable as text, epub, kindle, or pdf formats, see the Internet Archive:
1st ed (1855):
https://archive.org/details/arttravelorshif02galtgoog2nd ed (1856):
https://archive.org/details/arttravelorshif01galtgoog3rd ed (1850):
https://archive.org/details/arttravelorshif00galtgoog4th ed (1867):
https://archive.org/details/arttravelorshif03galtgoog5th ed (1872):
https://archive.org/details/arttravelorshif00unkngoog5th ed as audiobook:
https://archive.org/details/art_of_travel_1108_librivoxHere's the table of contents of the first few chapters of the first edition (page numbers stripped for brevity, but this is the first 93 pp.)
WATER
1. Where to look for Water
2. To know when it is near at hand
3. Occasional supplies from Rain, Dew, &c
4. To purify Water that is muddy, putrid, or salt
5. To dig Wells
6. To water Cattle from Wells
7. To carry a supply of Water on Pack-saddles
8. To carry Water in a Waggon
9. Small Water-vessels
10. Additional Remarks
FIRE
1. To obtain a Spark,
2. Tinder
3. To kindle a Spark into a Flame
4. Fuel
5. Camp Fires
BIVOUAC
1. Where to seek for Shelter
2. Mattresses, Blankets, and their Substitutes
3. Different ways of Bivouacking
4. Huts, Tents, and Awnings
5. Tent Furniture
6. Rude Houses
CLOTHES, &c
1. Articles of Dress
2. Personal Cleanliness
3. Knapsacks, Knives
4. Dry Clothes
FOOD AND COOKERY
1. Bad and Poisonous Diet.
2. Food from Various Sources
3. Preserving Meat, Fish, Butter, Milk,
4. Bush Cookery
5. Plates and Cooking Utensils
MATTERS OF DISCIPLINE
1. Even Temper • . . . .
2. Organising a Party
3. In Case of Death
4. Bush Laws
5. Carrying the Wounded
6. Securing Prisoners
7. Hostile Neighbourhood
DEFENCE
1. Camp Fortification
2. Weapons
HIDING PLACES, OR CACHES
1. To make a Cache.
2. Notices to another Party
3. Secreting Jewels
BOATS, RAFTS, FORDS, BRIDGES,
1. Swimming Rivers
2. Rafts and rude Boats
3. Carrying Boats Overland
4. Hints for Boating Excursions
5. Fords, Bridges,
LINE OF ROAD ACROSS COUNTRY
1. Roads, to mark and find
2. Accidents by the Way
3. Points of the Compass
4. Climbing
==== My obsession - signal mirrors ===
1st ed: 1855
nothing <sigh>
2nd ed: 1856 one page (pp. 121-122)
3rd ed: 1860 four pages! (pp. 151-152)
4th ed: 1867 five pages! (pp. 271-275)
5th ed: 1872 five pages! (pp. 277-281)