# Is "Scouting for Boys" by Robert Baden-Powell a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Scouting for Boys by Robert Baden-Powell (Horace Cox, 1908) is identified by: True first: the six fortnightly parts, London, 1908, beginning 15 January 1908 at '4d. UK first; two editions are collected and must be distinguished.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- True first: the six fortnightly parts, London, 1908, beginning 15 January 1908 at '4d. net' each, approx
- 70 pp per part, in printed pictorial wrappers with a different John Hassall cover design on each part, produced through Pearson's printer Horace Cox of London (Part 1 comprises pp
- The first one-volume book edition followed on 1 May 1908 from C. Arthur Pearson Ltd., Henrietta Street, London (cloth, 288 pp)
- Corroborated by Wikipedia and ScoutWiki, with dealer/museum records (milestone-books; eHive)
- The collecting standard for the true first is a complete set of all six original parts in the Hassall wrappers with advertisements intact
- Publisher imprint reads Horace Cox
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Robert Baden-Powell |
| Publisher | Horace Cox |
| Year | 1908 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | True first: the six fortnightly parts, London, 1908, beginning 15 January 1908 at '4d. net' each, approx |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
True first: the six fortnightly parts, London, 1908, beginning 15 January 1908 at '4d. net' each, approx. 70 pp per part, in printed pictorial wrappers with a different John Hassall cover design on each part, produced through Pearson's printer Horace Cox of London (Part 1 comprises pp. 3-70). The first one-volume book edition followed on 1 May 1908 from C. Arthur Pearson Ltd., Henrietta Street, London (cloth, 288 pp). Corroborated by Wikipedia and ScoutWiki, with dealer/museum records (milestone-books; eHive). The collecting standard for the true first is a complete set of all six original parts in the Hassall wrappers with advertisements intact.

## Is this the true first?
UK first; two editions are collected and must be distinguished. The true first is the six fortnightly PARTS (issued through Horace Cox from 15 January 1908); the first BOOK / one-volume edition is the C. Arthur Pearson Ltd. cloth issue of 1 May 1908 — a 'first in book form,' not the true first appearance. No US or original-language precedence issue.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Part 1 was reprinted to meet demand, so priority states exist within the parts, but specific first-issue-versus-reprint points for the individual parts are not firmly documented in available sources — verify a complete set in original wrappers. The 1908 Pearson book edition was itself reprinted repeatedly, and numerous later/facsimile 'original 1908 edition' reprints (e.g., modern Dover and Oxford World's Classics reissues) are 'first thus' only.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Scouting for Boys* by Robert Baden-Powell a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/scouting-for-boys
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.