The large book written mainly by
Bilbo,
Frodo and
Sam with a few additions and notes by others. The book contained Bilbo's adventures with
Thorin in ThA 2941, an account of the War__of__the__Ring and the
events at the end of the ThirdAge as seen by the
Hobbits (of the FotR). Attached were also three volumes of Bilbo's ''"Translations from the
Elvish"'' and a volume of genealogies and other
Shire matters compiled by the descendants of Sam. Sam gave it to his daughter Elanor and it was kept by the Fairbairns in Westmarch.
Called also the ''Red__Book'' (because of its red leather covers) and in
Gondor ''"Red__Book__of__the__Periannath"''.
Although the original Red__Book has not been preserved, many copies were made, especially of the first volume, for the use of the descendants of the children of Sam. However the most important copy was the ''Thain's Book'', made at the request of
King Elessar, and was brought to him by Peregrin__Took when he retired to Gondor in FoA 64. It was annotated and expanded in MinasTirith by the scholars of Gondor (many corrections, especially of names, words, and quotations in the
Elvish languages were made, and an abbreviated version of those parts of ''The Tale of
Aragorn and
Arwen'' which lie outside the account of the war was added).
An exact copy of the ThainsBook was made in Gondor by Findegil (the King's writer), probably at the request of the great-grandson of
Pippin, and completed in ShR 1592 (FoA 172). It is the only copy that contains the whole of Bilbo's ''"Translations from the Elvish"'' and was later kept at the GreatSmials.
The Thain's Book was thus the first copy made of the Red Book and contained much that was later omitted or lost.
