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!