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In the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, the Red Book is the book where The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings were written in. It is bound in red leather.
The Red Book, or Red Book of Westmarch (sometimes Red Book of the Periannath) was written by the Hobbit Bilbo Baggins and his heir Frodo Baggins, and contained both their adventures, as well as a lot of background information which the Bagginses collected. The Book was started by Bilbo Baggins, and recounted his quest for Erebor, which he called There and Back Again. He gave the Book to Frodo at Rivendell after completing it, and Frodo organized Bilbo's manuscript and used it to write down his own quest during the War of the Ring. Inscribed within, it reads:
There and Back Again.
And What Happened After.
Adventures of Five Hobbits.
The Tale of the Great Ring,
compiled by Bilbo Baggins from his own observations and the accounts of his friends.
What we did in the War of the Ring.
THE DOWNFALL
OF THE
LORD OF THE RINGS
AND THE
RETURN OF THE KING
(as seen by the Little People; being the memoirs of Bilbo and Frodo of the Shire,
supplemented by the accounts of their friends and the learning of the Wise.)
Together with extracts from Books of Lore translated by Bilbo in Rivendell.
Bilbo's translations of legends from the Elder Days were also added to it, as were various Hobbit poems and a lot of background information on the realms of Arnor, Gondor and Rohan, added to it by Peregrin Took and Meriadoc Brandybuck.
After Bilbo and Frodo left for Valinor, the Red Book passed into the keeping of Samwise Gamgee, mayor of the Shire. The book was left in the possession of Sam Gamgee's eldest daughter, Elanor Fairbairns (the Fairbairns of the Towers or Wardens of Westmarch). Several copies, with various notes and later additions, were made and the original was kept in a red case (with a three-volume Elvish Translation and a fifth volume [genealogical tables and commentaries]). Copies were passed on to future generations, of which, the "Thain's Book" is the most important.
In the first edition of the Fellowship of the Ring, Tolkien's foreword claimed he had translated the Red Book from the original Westron into English, and it therefore must be supposed that the book survived through several Ages.
The contents of the Red Book were probably as follows:
- Bilbo's journey: The Hobbit
- Frodo's journey: The Lord of the Rings
- Hobbit poems: The Adventures of Tom Bombadil
- Background information: the Appendices to The Lord of the Rings
- Bilbo's translation of legends: The Silmarillion.
See also: Third Age
