Denham Tracts

The Denham Tracts constitute a publication of a series of pamphlets and jottings on folklore, fifty-four in all, collected between 1846 and 1859 by Michael Aislabie Denham, a Yorkshire tradesman. Most of the original tracts were published with fifty copies (although some of them with twenty-five or even thirteen copies). The tracts were later re-edited by James Hardy for the Folklore Society and imprinted in two volumes in 1892[1] and 1895. It is possible that J.R.R. Tolkien took the word hobbit from the list of fairies in the Denham Tracts.[2]

  1. ^ James Hardy, ed., The Denham Tracts: A Collection of Folklore by Michael Aislabie Denham.. London: Folklore Society (1892).
  2. ^ Drout, Michael D. C. (February 17, 2007). J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0-415-96942-0 – via Google Books.