This catalogue lists items in the Dickons Collection of Tracts that relate to Bradford and the surrounding area, and also in the bound volumes of tracts in the Reserve Bradford Collection of books in the Bradford Local Studies Library.
930 items are featured (some duplicated), all from the nineteenth century, with just a few dated earlier. The term ‘tract’ is used loosely to denote publications on a theme which are too flimsy to stand alone on shelves. Typically less than thirty pages, these short publications were bound with other items to form ‘books’. A wide range of subjects are covered, providing a rich insight into what concerned local people in the 1800s.
James Norton Dickons (1837-1912) was a Bradford solicitor, historian and book-collector of note. He compiled the 240-page Bibliotheca Bradfordiensis. Collection of Books, Pamphlets, etc., published at Bradford (1895). After his death some thousand pamphlets and booklets were acquired by the Free Public Library of which 775 are listed in the 45 bound volumes noted here. The number of tracts in the nine Bradford tract volumes total 155.
This catalogue lists the contents of the following files. For fuller details there are annotated entries in the stock lists in hard copy on the public shelves in the Bradford Local Studies Library. When requesting items (which are for consultation only) please quote the location code which will be found in every entry.
