Pamphlet

A wall display with pamphlets in many languages at the House of Worship in Wilmette.

A pamphlet is a short publication consisting of several pages which are either unbound or loosely bound together and are meant for wide distribution. A leaflet or flyer is a type of pamphlet that may consist of one a single sheet or a few sheets of paper folded together. While leaflets and flyers are typically used to give basic information about a topic, a product, or an event, a pamphlet generally offers more in-depth information or opinions. Pamphlets on religious or political topics, especially controversial ones, have been common since the inception of printing. As an example, when Hand of the Cause George Townshend renounced his orders to the Anglican Church in 1947, he wrote a pamphlet to all Christians under the title “The Old Churches and the New World Faith” that was sent out to 10,000 people in the British Isles.

Bahá’ís have made use of pamphlets since at least the turn of the 20th century. An early Bahá’í pamphlet published in 1902 by Thornton Chase, titled Before Abraham Was, I Am, consisted of a reprinted letter to a new Bahá’í in which he summarized Bahá’í teachings from a Christian perspective. Charles Mason Remey published a number of pamphlets in the early 20th century, some of which were approved for publication by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá; one of these contained a list of twelve Bahá’í principles sourced from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá's talks in the West.

See also

Bahai.works has a related page: Pamphlets

• Warwick Leaflets