Originally Posted By: WesleyH
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 smile ...)

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)
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A signal mirror should backup a radio distress signal, like a 406 MHz PLB (ACR PLB) (Ocean Signal PLB)