Boy Scouts Handbook

Book excerpt: This is a facsimile reprint of the very first Boy Scouts Handbook, complete with the wonderful vintage advertisements that accompanied the original 1911 edition, now in full color. Over 40 million copies of this book have been distributed since its first publication nearly 100 years ago. The original Boy Scouts Handbook standardized American scouting and emphasized the virtues and qualifications for scouting, delineating what the American Boy Scouts declared was needed to be a “well-developed, well-informed boy.” The book includes information on the organization of scouting, signs and signaling, camping, scouting games, and a description of several scouting honors. Scouts past and present will be fascinated to see how scouting has changed, as well as what has stayed the same over the years.