The Frontiersman's Pocket-Book [Compiled and Edited by Roger Pocock on Behalf of the Council of the Legion of Frontiersmen]

Limited Members Edition. xx,463, 20 pp. 16mo. Original red cloth boards. Rebacked with a later red leather spine. Gilt and blind title on the front board. Half title. Later endpapers. Several B/W diagrams and drawings through out. B/W ads at the front and rear, as well as 20 pages of ads at the rear. 6 pages of coloured illustrations. 15 blank ruled pages at the rear. Presentation inscription on the front endpaper dated 1937, perhaps a member? Contemporary name on half title. Boards are somewhat worn with several old creases. A good, complete copy of a very scarce title intended for members only. Published in 1909, the Pocket-Book was the survival and training manual for the Legion. Pocock was able to recruit more than 60 distinguished contributors including Sam Steele (of Canada's North-West Mounted Police and Commander of the Lord Strathcona's Horse regiment during the late war in South Africa). The Legion of Frontiersmen had a marked influence upon Sir Robert Baden-Powell which was reflected in his creation of the Boy Scout movement around the same time. This rare first UK edition being long out of print, lead toa facsimile edition of the first edition of the manual to be published by the University of Alberta's Bruce Peel Special Collections Library in conjuncture with 'Sir Sam Steele: the Journey of a Canadian Hero'- an exhibit which featured documents, maps and photographs from the Library's Sir Samuel Steele collection which also includes the papers of Roger Pocock. There seems to have been a First Canadian edition published in Toronto in full red leather as well. There also was a first UK edition published in London in the same red leather boards. There is also a red cloth bound edition intended for members of the Legion only (this copy) All editions are very scarce.…