A tract is a literary work and, in current usage, usually religious in nature. The notion of what constitutes a tract has changed over time. By the early part of the 21st century, a tract referred to a brief pamphlet used for religious and political purposes, though far more often the former. Tracts are often either left for someone to find or handed out. However, there have been times in history when the term implied tome-like works. A tractate, a derivative of a tract, is equivalent in Hebrew literature to a chapter of the Christian Bible.
Quaker tract of 1820
A Gospel tract printed by the China Inland Mission
Tracts are often left in places with high amounts of public traffic. This tract was left under a vehicle windshield wiper.
Page from a tract by Thomas Shillitoe
A pamphlet is an unbound book. Pamphlets may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths, called a leaflet or it may consist of a few pages that are folded in half and saddle stapled at the crease to make a simple book.
An 18th-century painting of a girl with a basket of pamphlets
Due to their low cost and ease of production, pamphlets have often been used to popularize political or religious ideas.
A 1918 Finnish propaganda pamphlet signed by General Mannerheim circulated by the Whites urging the Reds to surrender during the Finnish Civil War. English: To the residents and troops of Tampere! Resistance is hopeless. Raise the white flag and surrender. The blood of the citizen has been shed enough. We will not kill like the Reds kill their prisoners. Send your representative with a white flag.
