Pamphlet

[1] The word pamphlet for a small work (opuscule) issued by itself without covers came into Middle English c. 1387 as pamphilet or panflet, generalized from a twelfth-century amatory comic poem with a satiric flavor, Pamphilus, seu de Amore ('Pamphilus: or, Concerning Love'), written in Latin.

[5] Its modern connotations of a tract concerning a contemporary issue was a product of the heated arguments leading to the English Civil War; this sense appeared in 1642.

[3] In some European languages, this secondary connotation, of a disputatious tract, has come to the fore: compare libelle, from the Latin libellus, denoting a "little book".

Due to their ephemeral nature and to the wide array of political and religious perspectives given voice by the format's ease of production, pamphlets are prized by many book collectors.

There are numerous purposes for pamphlets, such as product descriptions or instructions, corporate information, events promotions or tourism guides and they are often used in the same way as leaflets or brochures.

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.
The pamphlet form of literature has been used for centuries as an economical vehicle for the broad distribution of information.
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.