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?

The oldest I have is "How to survive on land and sea" by Frank and John Craighead 2nd revised 1956. The first edition was 1947. .

Strange hobby collecting old survival books !!!

Other oldies I have:

Survival in the Outdoors by Byron Dalrymple Copyright 1972.
Appears to be an "Outdoor life" book.

Sea Survival, A manual by Dougal Robertson Copyright 1975
-Bears a nice embossed stamp FDH. .

The Survival Book by Paul Nesbit, Alonzo Pond & William Allen
Copyright 1959 previously owned by a fellow named Glover from Wilmington N.C.
-I wonder if he was able to use any of the info.
-A check shows he is still alive and 90 years old.

A Pilot's Survival Manual by Paul Nesbit,Alonzo Pond & William Allen
Copyright 1959
-Original invoice is in the book from Flying club dated 12/07/78 (interesting date!)

After that many books published since 1990. . (another discussion)

I recall my fascination started with a chrismas gift of "The Last Whole Earth Catalog" and its small assortment of survival books. Some of the "Survival books" in retrospect turned out to be quite underwhelming.

Interesting topic. I have quite a few oldies in my own archives.

It seems to me that books dedicated to "wilderness survival" as opposed to "living well and homesteading in the wilderness" might have been foreign to people prior to the rapid urbanization that took hold in the middle of the 20th century. Prior to that, for most, it would be like a book on "how to learn to breathe." The skills were part of daily normal existence, and books focused on how to use those skills in efficient living.

A classic Canadian example on the "homesteading" side is Catherine Parr Traill's "The Backwoods of Canada (1836), the practical account and guide based on three years of homesteading in the Canadian bush. A great read, but not exactly dedicated to wilderness survival per se. Except, of course, if you blew it in that time and place, your survival hung in the balance.

I'm sure there was Baden-Powell material dedicated to survival skills for the early Scouts, which was pre-First World War.

On the American side of the pond, there was Calvin Rutstrum with "Way of the Wilderness" in 1946 and Bradford Angier with 'At Home in the Woods' in 1951. These caught the popular imagination, as did "On Your Own in the Wilderness" by Townsend Whelen and Bradford Angier in 1958 (I have a treasured hardcover of the latter, from the first run I think).

The oldest that I have seen is more of a paper pamphlet than a true book.
"dessert survival" published during world war 2 and required content in the survival packs in aircraft.
Contains advice on conserving and procuring water, staying cool, signalling to search aircraft, improvising survival equipment from parts of a crashed aircraft, and related content.

Dessert survival? That cake can be dangerous! LOL

Glad to see Nesbit, Pond, and Allen, on your list. I purchased my copy in 1959 and have been using it ever since. A lot of their material is still pertinent today.

Still available is Sir Francis Galtons

'The Art of Travel or Shifts and Contrivancies Available in Wild Countries' 1855.

long past copyright of course you can read it free here:

http://galton.org/books/art-of-travel/galton-1855-art-travel-1st.pdf

qjs

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/arttravelorshif02galtgoog
2nd ed (1856): https://archive.org/details/arttravelorshif01galtgoog
3rd ed (1850): https://archive.org/details/arttravelorshif00galtgoog
4th ed (1867): https://archive.org/details/arttravelorshif03galtgoog
5th ed (1872): https://archive.org/details/arttravelorshif00unkngoog
5th ed as audiobook: https://archive.org/details/art_of_travel_1108_librivox

Here'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)

Rafowell,

Thanks for the heads up on that one. I perused the fifth edition and it looks very interesting. I will have to download a copy.

Funny thing though, whoever scanned this copy:

5th ed (1872): https://archive.org/details/arttravelorshif00unkngoog

Must have been seriously having some issues. You will find the first several pages are hands, fingers articles of clothing and who knows what else. If that is not enough there are the occasional pages that look like they were scanned several inches away.

In regards to survival mirrors, I have McCanns excellent book and finally received the "real deal" from his company. I have to give them high marks :-)

Thank goodness it was not a lesson I had to learn in while "Stranded in the jungle, about a thousand miles away!"

Regards!

For free high quality ebooks, check Project Gutenberg first,
because they don't stop with simple OCR (as Google Books does)
but follow up with two-pass proofreading and correction by volunteers
(which is why they have only ~50,000 titles available vs. ~25 million Google Books)

Fortunately, this one is there:

Art of Travel, 5th Ed., at Project Gutenberg ( epub, Kindle (both with and without illustrations), plaintext, and html)

If you want a clean .pdf version - far better than the one at Internet Archive, download this lovingly produced copy:

Art of Travel, 5th ed. (.pdf), at Galton.org

A great deal of information about the author (including 500 of his works) is available at Galton.org.

Catherine Parr Traill's "The Backwoods of Canada (1836) is one of my faves too. Great book, Doug!

My oldest is Kephart's "Camping and Woodcraft: A Handbook for Vacation Campers and for Travelers in the Wilderness." Not entirely what we think of as a survival manual, but very comprehensive. Originally published in 1917, my Grandfather had a copy when I as a kid, but an older cousin inherited that version. The copy I'm reading is the 7 printing from 2004.

Not the oldest, but Woodcraft and Camping by George Washington Sears aka "Nessmuk" is a classic. First published in 1884...

Good one. It's also available here: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/34607?msg=welcome_stranger

Like Galton's book, Kephart's still-in-print classic grew through multiple editions, of which the 1917 version is the last.

I see no version at Project Gutenberg, alas, but the versions at Internet Archive seem clean, and have pretty much every format you could ask for: read online, or download as .pdf, epub, Kindle, or plaintext.

1st ed 1906: 321 pp: https://archive.org/details/bookofcampingwoo00keph
4th ed 1910: 331 pp, https://archive.org/details/bookofcampingwoo01keph
5th ed 1912: 331 pp, https://archive.org/details/bookofcampingwoo02keph
1917 version, 469 pp, https://archive.org/details/campingwoodcraft00kephrich

i'll go with "the way of the woods" by Edward Breck,1908.
not a survival manual as such but it tells you everything you need to know about camping in the northeast US and Canada.the one bit of "survival"advice is to never leave camp without a wood box of matches and another of salt.
I just thought of a pure survival book I have from 1965.a CB Colby "survival training in our armed services"

So many of the older books on the subject of camping discussed what we consider survival. Then, it was just camping. My first book on the subject was The Master Backwoodsman by Bradford Angier. Not particularly old, but a good read.

I don't think we see any real old survival books because "survival" did not really become much of a subject until the 50's when it became connected with post atomic war getting along.
now you can buy survival everything for every possible event.

There are many published "survival" books at archive.org. Many of these date back to the mid 1800's. Back then, these books were not titled nor written as survival books. Instead they went by the name and genre such as Camping, Wood-lore, Exploring etc.

When I was a very young lad in the late 70's and early 80's, books I borrowed from libraries were of this nature. Little did I know - but those books I read then would make a very profound impact and lasting influence in my life - namely my love of the outdoors.

You and me both, my friend.

My first such book on the subject was: My Side of the Mountain.

I have gotten some EXCELLENT suggestions from everyone here, thank you!

The thing I have noticed is that on my weekly trips to the bookstores in the area, It seems that every week some yahoo comes out with a new survival book. Granted, some of them are great, some are just slick printed clay stock with pretty pictures and conflicting info at best.

I had also noticed some time back that Doug does not seem to be updating the survival bookshelf reviews. Anyone know the story on that? It would seem, with the great proliferation of new books, it might be a worthwhile endeavour for someone to keep up with the reviews and new postings.

Also, I came across an interesting old one from 65.

The Art of Survival by Cord Christian Troebst, original copyright 1963 (German) American translation and copyright 1965. It looks well written, with no flashy pictures. . .

Chapter 1 Should we Train for an Emergency?
Chapter 2 Learning to Survive
Chapter 3 Survival in the Desert
Chapter 4 Survival at Sea
Chapter 5 Survival in Snow and Ice
Chapter 6 Survival in the Tropics
Chapter 7 Survival after Plane Crashes
Chapter 8 Today's rescue equipment-
Good and Bad
Chapter 9 What Man Can Stand

Any thoughts on this one? I've not started reading it yet.


One other one comes to mind Survival Psychology by John Leach.

Amazingly, I was able to secure a copy about 2 years ago. As great as the info is, I am surprised it has not been reprinted.

Wesley

Another "couple" of books are from Richard Graves.

The "10 Bushcraft Handbooks" are still very popular and seem widely available on the internet.They were first published in 1952.

Bush Ropemaking,
Bush Hutmaking,
Snares and Traps,
Impoverished Campcraft,
Time and Direction,
Travel and Gear,
Food and Water in the Bush,
Firemaking,
Tracks and Lures and
Knots and Lashings.

Lesser known is his 1944 book "Bushcraft; How to Live in Jungle and Bush" also by Richard Graves, but written with the pseudonym
"Wontolla" to protect his identity (during WW2).

There is a very good write up on Richard here:

http://ausbushcraftmag.com.au/richard-h-graves-the-father-of-modern-australian-bushcraft/

(No affiliation)

Finally was able to track down a 1958 copy of this excellent reference. It certainly looks out outdoor living from a totally different perspective than anything I have seen published in the last 30 years at least.

Well worth the time to track it down. Just be ready to play some games with idiot sellers on amazon who feel the price should be >$2000.00 Remember, there are other seller conglomerates (ebay and alibris.)

[quote=quick_joey_small]Still available is Sir Francis Galtons

'The Art of Travel or Shifts and Contrivancies Available in Wild Countries' 1855.

Finally obtained a copy of this book. Published 1971. An interesting read in that it was state of the art for around 1855. It certainly highlights how dangerous travel was at that time. Not to mention how good we have it today.

Not to mention simple things such as the Germ theory of Disease which was some 29 years in the future (1884). As such, while filtration and distillation are mentioned, while the idea of sterilization was unknown.

It gives you an idea of how much things have changed since 1855.

Well I'm glad you reply to me and not rafowells' tardy post! :-)
(my quick mention of galton beat his lengthy exposition by 9 seconds)

Some things never change. Medieval Europeans noticed that people who ate unheated food or water got sick. So beer was the staple drink and potage (take anything and boil it a long time) the staple food.
Not sure why people were dying in the 1800s from unboiled water.

One of galtons tips was get a surgeon to insert some diamonds under your skin. Then no matter what happens you have funds. A modern day equivalent would be memorising your account numbers and passwords then you can always get money, or buy a ticket home on-line.
qjs

With regards to the conditions of food in the 1850's, something of import did occur to me. (after 25 years as an RN. . .Hey, I ARE BRIGHT!)

Seriously though. In most of our lifespans we have seen people become totally germaphobe fearing simpletons. Case in point, if you grew up in the 40's to the early 70's. kids eating dirt was normal. Gross perhaps, but it served a vital function to prime their immune systems. Today however, everything gets multiple wipes of antibacterial wipes and heaven forbid baby eats a bug! The results of such anti priming behavior was to set the person up with little immune system as an adult. They get sick at the sound of a cough.

See:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867412001043
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4707740/
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/27/health/27brod.html
http://healthland.time.com/2010/12/03/can-overuse-of-antibiotic-soap-promote-allergies-in-kids/

Which, by extension, a more robust immune system is going to be more tolerant of bacteria in food.

People need to quit freaking out at any idea of bacteria. Send the kids out to eat some dirt!