Items

• 'A Street Door of Our Own': A Short History of Life on an LCC Estate
  Organised by community worker Jim Cowan, this pamphlet describes life on the Honor Oak Estate in South London. Alongside photographs, twelve elderly residents reflect on estate life in the 1930s via transcribed interviews. The residents used press interest about the publication to ensure the council upheld their promise to build a community centre on the estate.
• A Discouerie of the Treasons Practised and Attempted Against the Queenes Maiestie and the Realme
  From the golden age of English pamphleteering of the late 16th century is this account of Francis Throckmorton’s 1584 trial for treason. Throckmorton was part of a Catholic plot to depose Elizabeth I in favour of her cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots.
• A New-Yeers Gift for the Parliament and Armie
  Gerrard Winstanley was the leader of the True Levellers, or Diggers, who advocated common land ownership and the restructuring of society into cooperative agrarian communities. This pamphlet, published in 1650, was Winstanley’s response to the overthrow of Charles I and the establishment of the English Commonwealth. In it, he appealed for further—and even more radical—change, calling for greater freedoms for all the people of England.
• A Strange, True, and Dreadful Relation, of the Devils Appearing to Thomas Cox a Hackney-coach-man, Who Lives in Cradle-Alley in Baldwins-Gardens
  A sensationalist tract from the late 17th century. These publications featured accounts of the supernatural, crime, miracles, and even the last words of the condemned, delivered directly from the gallows. This particular tract recounts the story of a Hackney coachman who picked up a gentleman passenger—only for the man to transform into “a great black thing in the form of a bear with great flaming eyes” after refusing to pay his fare. The pamphlet was printed by Elizabeth Mallet, a printer and bookseller who, in addition to producing sensationalist tracts, founded 'The Daily Courant', the first daily newspaper in Britain.
• Africa, Europe, Caribbean: Political Commentaries
  Trinidad and Tobago’s Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU) was led during the 1980s by George Weekes, who had been involved in Black Power activism. This pamphlet contains the text of talks given at an OWTU forum by Jeyifo Biodun, Darcus Howe, and Tim Hector. Internationalism and anticolonialism were at the heart of the talks, which were published as a pamphlet to reach a wider audience.
• Black Power in Britain: A Special Statement
  Written and published by the newly founded Universal Coloured People’s Association, this pamphlet is an articulation of intentions, beginning with the words ‘Our Manifesto’. The manifesto aims to develop an international Black consciousness empowering identity and community self-determination. Examples of the often brutal experience of being Black in Britain, including restriction of access to work and housing, sit alongside plans for grassroots organising, including nurseries and study groups.
• Breaching the Peace : (A Collection of Radical Feminist Papers)
  Published by Onlywomen Press in 1983, 'Breaching the Peace' was a collection of papers by radical feminists that emerged from a workshop titled “The Women’s Liberation Movement versus The Women’s Peace Movement or How Dare You Presume I Went to Greenham.” The papers examined and criticised the women’s peace movement. The contributors argued that women-only camps, such as Greenham Common, presented a media‑friendly image of women’s liberation and that being female-only did not make them inherently feminist. The pamphlet format offered a quick and convenient way to disseminate and debate the discussions that arose from the workshop.
• Captain Blackbeard's Beef Creole: And Other Caribbean Recipes
  In 1977, and as part of the work of local community bookshop The Bookplace, the Peckham Publishing Project began with the aim to publish local writing. This pamphlet originated in the Bookplace’s English classes. The contributors discussed together ingredients and terminology and produced a Caribbean (mostly Jamaican) recipe book interspersed with related food information. The illustrations were provided by students from the local Collingwood Girls’ School.
• Catalogue no. 8: Old Books in Spanish and Other Languages Relating to Latin America
  Published in May 1942 by the Dolphin Book Company, this catalogue offered rare and second-hand books in Spanish and other languages on Latin America. Issued during wartime Oxford, it highlights Britain’s academic and cultural interest in the region’s history, literature, and politics.
• Cobbett's Two-Penny Trash
  William Cobbett was a radical politician and journalist active during the first three decades of the 19th century. He produced a periodical, 'The Political Register', to share news and political commentary with the labouring poor. In 1816, when the government imposed heavy taxes on the radical press, Cobbett responded by publishing an unstamped version of the 'Register' for two pence—mockingly dubbed “two‑penny trash” by his detractors. Cobbett embraced the insult and adopted it as the title of a monthly version of his periodical. This issue, from November 1831, is part of the revived run of 'Two‑Penny Trash'. It survives today in much the same condition as when it was sold by hawkers nearly two hundred years ago: unbound, with the pages simply stitched together.
• Communist Manifesto
  This is one of the most famous and reprinted pamphlets. Published in German in 1848, it has been translated into numerous languages with lasting political influence worldwide. Senate House Library’s collections include many editions of the manifesto, from the first English edition, rebound in leather covered boards for preservation, to more humble editions. The copy on display, with simple pink paper wrappers, lists one of the two famous authors as ‘Fred Engels’.
• Diary of a Divorce
  Manchester’s Commonword stemmed from an oral history project, beginning in 1977 as the Commonword Workshop. The groups developed to include one focussing on women’s writing. This pamphlet was written and illustrated by Wendy Whitfield, who also worked at Commonword. Designed to reflect a calendar, the pamphlet depicts the disintegration of a marriage from the woman’s point of view, against a backdrop of left-wing political activism.
• Ey Up Mi Duck: Images and Poetry From Derbyshire Miners Wives
  Created by the Derbyshire Women’s Action Group during the miners’ strike, this booklet combines poetry and images from miners’ wives. It highlights women’s voices in community struggle, capturing resilience, solidarity, and the social impact of industrial conflict in Derbyshire.
• Fascism and How to Defeat It
  In 1959, fascist Oswald Mosley stood for election in Kensington North. Communist Party of Great Britain member and 'Daily Worker' writer Kathleen Mary ‘Kay’ Beauchamp wrote this rapid response. Beauchamp informs a post-war generation about Mosley’s history of fascist organising and suggests means of countering it through communism. The pamphlet’s simple design of loose pages stapled together reflects the urgency of the situation.
• Feminist History in the East End: A Walk
  Published in 1979 by the feminist collective Rights of Women, 'Feminist History in the East End: A Walk' by Clare Manifold is both guidebook and manifesto. It maps a walking route through London’s East End, highlighting sites connected to women’s activism, labour struggles, and political organising. Blending history with lived geography, the booklet invited readers to encounter the city as a landscape of resistance and memory. Illustrated with photographs and portraits, it situates feminism within local histories of poverty, migration, and solidarity. More than a guide, it reflects late twentieth-century feminist efforts to reclaim women’s voices in public space.
• Fun Amongst the Matches
  As advances in technology made colour printing less costly, advertising and promotional ephemera in the form of leaflets, pamphlets, and flyers became increasingly common. The British match manufacturer Bryant and May produced this pamphlet in various versions in the early 20th century, using the popular pastimes of parlour puzzles and tricks to promote their match products as props.
• Health Without Dairy Produce
  W. H. White was a doctor who advocated vegan diets from infancy, promoting his views through lectures, recipe books, and the maternity homes he managed. This 1938 pamphlet, prompted by the craze for “milk bars,” extols the benefits of a dairy‑free diet and includes various testimonials. White’s views were far from mainstream and milk in particular remained a staple of dietary recommendations.
• Homogenic Love, and Its Place in a Free Society
  Socialist Edward Carpenter used his writing to advocate for new ways of living. This appeal for gay and lesbian equality was published in 1894, only the year before Oscar Wilde was imprisoned for his homosexuality. Carpenter had hoped this essay would be published as part of a collection but the text was deemed dangerous and was published as a pamphlet for private circulation only.
• How Britain Was Fed in War Time: Food Control, 1939-1945
  Governments and institutions have long been prolific producers of spineless material: published acts, policy and research papers, reports, and leaflets offering information and advice. Such publications were an important means of spreading information and propaganda for the UK government during the Second World War. The Ministry of Food produced numerous pamphlets and leaflets related to food control and rationing. This particular pamphlet, published in 1946, provided an account of how food resources were mobilised during the war, including extensive statistical data and information that had been suppressed in the preceding five years.
• List of Non-sexist Children's Books
  A bibliography of books which fight gender stereotypes, this pamphlet is divided into four age categories from ‘under-sixes’ to ‘13 years and upwards’. The authors founded the Children’s Rights Workshop to analyse and share findings on sexist, racist and classist children’s books, and the Other Awards, to celebrate books that countered these prejudices. The pamphlet was published by feminist magazine 'Spare Rib' and distributed by the socialist Publications Distribution Cooperative.
• Poems
  Modernist writer, publisher, and translator John Rodker was one of what is today called ‘The Whitechapel Boys’ group of writers and artists. In 1914, Rodker self-published and distributed his first collection, 'Poems', as a pamphlet, complete with cover art by fellow Whitechapel Boy, painter David Bomberg. The words “To be had of the author” followed by Rodker’s home address are printed on the title page.
• Raging Womyn: In Reply to Breaching the Peace
  Jean Freer’s pamphlet was a direct reply to the criticism's of the women’s peace movement in the 1983 publication 'Breaching the Peace'. She published it from the Greenham Common camp the following year. Freer rejected what she saw as the radical feminists’ isolationist approach to women’s liberation, arguing that the openness and mutual support fostered at Greenham had been empowering for women.
• Rationing of Food in Great Britain
  This pocket‑sized booklet, published in September 1946, provided practical information on rationing following the end of the Second World War. It explained the rationale and background of rationing, as well as the quantities of rationed goods available under different schemes. It also outlined what could be obtained through canteens, schools, and communal “British Restaurants,” which provided affordable meals for workers. Food control remained essential after the War, and for some foodstuffs became even stricter. Booklets such as this were an important tool for communicating the continuing necessity of rationing.
• Sir Richard's Daughter: A Christmas Tale of the Olden Times
  During the 19th century, printing presses entered the middle-class home, creating a boom in ‘parlour printing’. This is exemplified by the works of CHO Daniel, who was most famous for the works he printed in Oxford. This 1852 pamphlet is from Daniel’s earlier printing phase, based at his family home in Frome. Presented in a simple blue cover wrapper, the text is anonymous although likely to have been written by Wilson Clement Cruttwell.
• Songs
  This collection, published by folk singer and collector John Foreman—known as “The Broadsheet King”—brings together protest songs, traditional ballads, and spirituals. Reflecting grassroots musical activism, it illustrates how song circulated as a powerful tool of commentary, solidarity, and resistance in twentieth-century Britain.