Lieutenant General Robert Baden-Powell founded the Boy Scouts in 1908. It is more particularly dated to January 24 of that year with the publication of Scouting for Boys, published as a three-part set by Horace Cox, London. [1,2,3]
The only recorded copy in original parts is housed at Lilly Library on the campus of Indiana University, Bloomington. It is part of a collection of more than a thousand pieces built by creator and author of the original James Bond stories, Ian Fleming. [4]
According to library records:
The Fleming Collection was an attempt to gather together, in first editions, the original contributions of the scientists and practical workers, the total body of whose work has been responsible for the modern revolution.
Display of this Lord Baden-Powell first edition is part of a special exhibit put together by Lilly Library staff as their contribution to worldwide commemoration of the “Ian Fleming Centenary.” Ian Lancaster Fleming was born on May 28, 1908 — which would have made this his one-hundredth birthday. [5,6]
Robert Baden-Powell was born on February 22, 1857 and distinguished himself through a heroic career in the British army. In 1907 he organized an “experimental camp” aimed to help develop the character of boys. He retired from the military just over two years later to focus on “the Scout movement.” [7,8,9]
From this, the Boy Scouts of America was founded on February 8, 1910. [10,11]
Lilly Library is located 310 miles southwest of Saline.
References
- “Jan 24 This Day in History: 1908 – Boy Scouts movement begins” History.
- “Boy Scouts” Encyclopedia Britannica.
- “Books: Tenderfoots need not apply – Scouting for Boys, by Robert Baden-Powell, edited by Elleke Boehmer” Alan Hollinghurst (March 12, 2004) The Guardian.
- “Robert, Lord Baden-Powell. Scouting for Boys. London, 1908. Call number HS3313 .B74 B13” The Ian Fleming Collection, Lilly Library Publications Online.
- “Ian Fleming’s Centenary: Fleming’s Family, Friends, and Fellow Writers” Glen Levy (May 27, 2008) Time.
- Ian Fleming (time line).
- “Baden-Powell” Scouts.
- “Lord Baden-Powell” Our History: Order of the Arrow, Boy Scouts of America.
- “Robert Baden-Powell as an educational innovator” Mark K Smith (1997, 2002) infed.
- “About the BSA: The Boy Scouts of America” Scouting.
- “Founders of the BSA” Scouting.
