“On my honor … “
Today is the 100th anniversary of Boy Scouting, from when it began in England. Scouting came to the United States in 1910, but I’m starting the party now.
A good place to begin is with Lord Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell’s bibliography. In his 83 years, Baden-Powell gave himself to the service of his country and his fellow men in two separate and complete lives—one as a soldier fighting for his country, and the other as Chief Scout.
Baden-Powell was a prolific writer, as this list shows, which was compiled by Laszlo Nagy, author of 250 Million Scouts, (The World Scout Foundation and Dartnell Publishers, 1985)
1. BOOKS BY BADEN-POWELL
1884 Reconnaissance and Scouting
1885 Cavalry Instruction
1889 Pigsticking or Hoghunting
1896 The Downfall of Prempeh
1897 The Matabele Campaign
1899 Aids to Scouting for N.C.O.s and Men
1900 Sport in War
1901 Notes and Instructions for the South African Constabulary
1907 Sketches in Mafeking and East Africa
1908 Scouting for Boys, in six parts
1909 Yarns for Boy Scouts
1910 Scouting Games
1911 Scouting for Boys, complete edition
1912 Handbook for Girl Guides (in collaboration with Agnes Baden-Powell)
1913 Boy Scouts Beyond the Seas
1914 Quick Training for War
1915 Indian Memories My Adventures as a Spy
1916 Young Knights of the Empire The Wolf Cub’s Handbook
1918 Girl Guiding
1919 Aids to Scoutmastership
1921 What Scouts Can Do An Old Wolf’s Favourites
1922 Rovering to Success
1923 Scouting for Boys (Canadian edition: The Canadian Boy Scout)
1923 Re-issue: Pig-Sticking or Hog-Hunting (1889)
1924 The Adventures of a Spy.
Reissue of: Indian Memories My Adventures as a Spy (1915)
1927 Life’s Snags and How to Meet Them
1929 Scouting and Youth Movements
1932 Scouting for Boys in India (Boys’ edition)
1933 Lessons from the Varsity of Life
1934 Adventures and Accidents
1935 Scouting Round the World
1936 Adventuring to Manhood
1937 African Adventures
1938 Birds and Beasts of Africa
1939 Paddle Your Own Canoe
1940 More Sketches of Kenya
1942 Scouting for Boys (1942 Memorial edition)
1944 Aids to Scoutmastership
(Definitive “World Brotherhood Edition,” edited by William Hillcourt)
1946 Scouting for Boys
(Definitive “World Brotherhood Edition”, edited by William Hillcourt)
2. COLLECTIONS OF ARTICLES BY BADEN-POWELL
1923 Blazing the Trail. Being wise saws and modern instances
from the works of the Chief Scout. Collected by Laura Holt
1941 B-P’s Outlook. Selections from The Scouter.
1956 Adventuring with Baden-Powell. Selected yarns and articles
1985 Footsteps of the Founder.
A collection of quotations from Baden-Powell. Published by WOSM.
3. MINOR BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS BY BADEN-POWELL
1883 On Vedette: An Easy Aide-Memoire
1896 The Native Levy in the Ashanti Expedition
1897 The Campaign in Rhodesia
1907 Boy Scouts Scheme–Boy Scouts:
A Suggestion-Summary of Scheme-A Successful Trial
1909 A Trip to Sunshine
1911 Sea Scouting for Boys
1911 Workers or Shirkers-Boy Scouts in Connection with
National Training and National Service
1915 Marksmanship for Boys
1917 Scouting Towards Reconstruction The Cub Book
1920 Steps to Girl Guiding Brownies and Bluebirds
1921 The Scout’s First Book Scouting in Education
1927 South African Tour 1926-27
1929 Aims, Methods and Needs
1932 Rover Scouts
1936 The Great Trek of the Early Scouts of South Africa
1939 About Those Boy Scouts
See also: Lazlo Nagy and 250 Million Scouts:
In 1985, Lazlo Nagy, then Chief Executive of the World Organization of the Scout Movement, wrote 250 Million Scouts as a history of the Scout Movement from its earliest days to the present. In the early chapters the focus is on the “Founder,” Sir Robert Baden-Powell. But the unique contribution of the book is its perspective on the development of the Scout Movement as a world organization. Nagy, himself, was a Scout as a boy in Hungary. Little did he expect to be so thoroughly involved in Scouting and to cap a distinguished career as leader of the World Organization.
250 Million Scouts was published by the World Scout Foundation and Dartnell Publishers in 1985. The following is the author’s profile as it appears in the book.
“Lazlo Nagy, the author, is a Swiss citizen of Hungarian origin, a sociologist, historian and Doctor of Political Science. A former journalist and the author of a number of books on current politics, he undertook a two-year study of the International Scout Movement, financed by the Ford Foundation. In 1968, on completion of the study, he was invited to put his recommendations into practice and accepted the appointment of Chief Executive of the World Organization of the Scout Movement.
