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).