Red Book of the Periannath

The historical records of the Hobbits

Red Book of
the Periannath

Thain's Book
(all volumes)
with annotations

Numerous other copies,
(especially of the first volume)

In origin the diary of Bilbo Baggins, telling of his journey to Erebor, which he kept secret in the Shire, showing it only to his adopted heir Frodo. Bilbo took it with him to Rivendell, where he assembled further tales of the Elder Days, and after the end of the War of the Ring Frodo added his own account of events of those times. The final Red Book consisted of five volumes: one volume containing Bilbo's and Frodo's accounts of the end of the Third Age, three red-bound volumes containing Bilbo's 'Translations from the Elvish',³ and an additional volume, added later, containing histories and genealogies of the Shire-folk. The whole was kept in a single red case at Undertowers, the seat of the Fairbairns in the Westmarch of the Shire.

In the Shire, the Red Book was more commonly known as the 'Red Book of Westmarch'; the name 'Red Book of the Periannath' was the usual term in Gondor (Periannath was the Elvish name for the Halflings or Hobbits). The Red Book itself was never taken to Gondor, but at Aragorn's request Peregrin Took had a copy made (the so-called Thain's Book) which he took with him to Minas Tirith. The original Red Book did not survive, but the Thain's Book, and an important copy later made in Gondor by Findegil, became the (of course fictional) historical source of the stories of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

1	The very earliest source materials for the Red Book came from Elvish histories dating back to the First Age, translated by Bilbo into three volumes of the Red Book. Bilbo's own contributions began during his 'holiday' of III 2941, when he kept a diary as he journeyed to Erebor. Bilbo took his work to Rivendell after he departed from the Shire in III 3001, and in Rivendell he worked to complete his part of it. Frodo returned it to the Shire, and in III 3020 and III 3021 brought its contents near to completion.
2	Our last reference to the Red Book is a scribe's note to a copy of the book made by Findegil of Gondor, which was dated as IV 172. How much longer the Red Book survived after this date is unknown, but we know that it was eventually lost. A comment in the Prologue to The Lord of the Rings tells us that 'the original Red Book has not been preserved'.
3	It seems to be implied that Bilbo's 'Translations from the Elvish' was the original source of The Silmarillion (just as the first volume of the Red Book gave rise to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings). Though this is never stated explicitly, it seems hard to draw any other conclusion.

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