AIDS TO SCOUTING FOR N.C.O.\'s & MEN

138 + 5 pages of publisher\'s catalogue, further lists of Gale & Polden\'s military publications appear on the front endpapers, original limp red cloth - slightly frayed at the top of the spine, a very good copy.
By the time Baden-Powell was preparing the defence of Mafeking in 1899, he had written the book – now called Aids to Scouting for N.C.O.s and Men, which he submitted whilst on leave in England to the military publisher W Thacker and Co. They had turned him down, as they did not think the potential sale was large enough to justify publication. Soon afterBaden-Powell had to leave for South Africa and had his brother Frank submit the manuscript to Gale & Polden Ltd. They took it, offering to pay a royalty of £5 per 1,000 copies after the first two thousand copies.They sent the galley proofs on to B-P, who was by this time in Mafeking preparing for the siege. No doubt Baden-Powell had plenty on his mind at the time so after slight revisions he returned the proofs with the brief message \"Publish it.\"

By the time the book was eventually published, the Boer War and the Siege of Mafeking had started, in fact the very first shots of the conflict were fired just outside Mafeking. The preface page of the small breast-pocket sized red book bears the melodramatic statement - The Corrected Proofs of this Book accompanied the last Despatches that got through the Boer lines.
From Scouting Milestones - http://www.scouting.milestones.btinternet.co.uk/aids.htm