Red Book of Westmarch

The book's cover based on movie prop

The Red Book of Westmarch was a red, leather-bound book written by the Hobbit Bilbo Baggins and his household-heir Frodo Baggins (with supplemental information later added by Samwise Gamgee), which chronicled both their adventures, as well as background information which the Bagginses had collected.

Bilbo Baggins started the book recounting his quest to Erebor, which he entitled There and Back Again. He later gave the book to Frodo at Rivendell after completing it. Frodo organized Bilbo's manuscript and used it to record his own Quest of the Ring.

Description & history

Inscribed within, it reads:

“

My Diary. My Unexpected Journey. 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 significant amount of background information on the realms of Arnor, Gondor and Rohan, added to it by Peregrin Took and Meriadoc Brandybuck.

A section of the book's contents in Peter Jackson's films

After Bilbo and Frodo left for Valinor, the Red Book passed into the keeping of Samwise Gamgee, Mayor of Michel Delving. The book was left in the possession of Sam Gamgee's eldest daughter, Elanor Fairbairn, and her descendants the Fairbairns. 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 one, the "Thain's Book", is the most important.

The copy kept at Great Smials, however, was made in Gondor by Findegil in FO 171, and was said to have been requested by Peregrin Took's great-grandson.

The cover was properly red colored; and had signature print on the top, shaped as a shine of light. It also had stitch patterns and beautiful marks around the edges. Bilbo Baggins' initials BB were imprinted on the cover in gold and it was very smooth, soft and silky to the touch. On the inside, there was a page of contents; writing each story by the four owners. There is a chance that The Adventures of Tom Bombadil (a book of poems) was written by Samwise Gamgee. However, it is unknown what Elanor Gardner wrote.

Behind the scenes

In the first edition of The Fellowship of the Ring, J.R.R. Tolkien's foreword claimed he had translated the Red Book from the original Westron into English, and it therefore must be supposed that copies of 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
• Background information: the Appendices to The Lord of the Rings
• Hobbit poetry and legends: The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, Fastitocalon
• Bilbo's translation of legends: The Silmarillion

See also

• Third Age
• Westmarch
• The Red Book (YouTube channel)

Translations

Foreign Language	Translated name
Afrikaans	Rooi Boek van Westemark
Albanian	Libri i Kuq i Kufirit Perëndimor
Amharic	የምዕራቡ ድንበር ቀይ መጽሐፍ
Arabic	الكتاب الأحمر من الغرب الثغر
Armenian	Արեւմտյան մարկա Կարմիր գիրքը
Assamese	পশ্চিম সীমান্তৰ ৰঙা কিতাপ
Azerbaijani	Qərb sərhəddi Qırmızı Kitab
Belarusian Cyrillic	Чырвоная кніга Захаду марка
Bengali	ওয়েস্ট সীমান্তপ্রদেশ রেড বুক
Bosnian	Zapada granica Crvena Knjiga
Bulgarian Cyrillic	Червената книга на западния предел
Catalan	Llibre vermell d'Occident marca
Chinese	西域红皮书
Chinese (Mainland)	西界红皮书
Croatian	Crvena knjiga Zapada Marka
Danish	Vestmarch Røde bog
Dutch	Rode Boek van de Westmark
Esperanto	Ruĝa Libro de Okcidento markio
Estonian	Lääne mark Punane raamat
Filipino	Pulang aklat ng Kanluran hangganan
Finnish	Länsikairan Punainen kirja
French	Livre rouge de la Marche de l'Ouest
Galician	Libro Vermello do Oeste Marca
Georgian	დასავლეთ მხარის წითელი წიგნი
German	Das Rote Buch der Westmark
Greek	Κόκκινο Βιβλίο των Δυτικών Συνόρων
Gujarati	પશ્ચિમ સરહદની રેડ બુક
Haitian Creole	Wouj Liv nan Lwès Fwontyè tè
Hindi	पश्चिमी सीमांत की लाल किताब
Hebrew	ספר האדום של שפילת-המערב
Hungarian	A Nyugati határ Vörös Könyv
Icelandic	Vesturmarke Rauður Bók
Indonesian	Barat perbatasan Buku merah
Italian	Libro Rosso dei Confini Occidentali
Japanese	西境の赤表紙本
Kazakh	Батыс шекарасының қызыл кітабы (Cyrillic)Batıs şekarasınıñ qızıl kitabı (Latin)
Korean	서쪽의 국경 토지 빨간 책
Kurdish	کتێبی سووری سنووری ڕۆژئاوا (Sorani) Sor Pirtûka Rojavayê mark (Kurmanji)
Kyrgyz Cyrillic	Батыш чек арасынын Кызыл китеби
Laotian	ປື້ມສີແດງຂອງຊາຍແດນຕາເວັນຕົກ
Latvian	Rietumu robeža sarkanā grāmata
Lithuanian	Raudonoji knyga Vakaru Marka
Macedonian Cyrillic	Црвена книга од Запад граница
Malayalam	പടിഞ്ഞാറൻ അതിർത്തിയിലെ റെഡ് ബുക്ക്
Malaysian	Buku Merah Sempadan Barat
Mongolian Cyrillic	Улаан Ном нь Өрнөдийн хил хязгаар
Nepalese	पश्चिम सिमानाको रेड बुक
Norwegian	Vestmarks Røde bok
Persian	کتاب سرخ سرحد غربی
Pashto	د لویدیځ سرحد سور کتاب
Polish	Czerwona Ksiega Marchii Zachodniej
Portuguese	Livro Vermelho da Marcha Oeste Livro Vermelho das Terras Ocidentais
Punjabi	ਵੈਸਟਰਨ ਫਰੰਟੀਅਰ ਦੀ ਰੈੱਡ ਬੁੱਕ
Russian	Алая книга Западных пределов
Scottish Gaelic	Leabhar Dearg an Lar chrìochan
Serbian	Црвена књига Западне Међе (Cyrillic) Crvena knjiga Zapadne Međe (Latin)
Sinhalese	බටහිර දේශසීමා රතු පොත
Slovak	Cervená kniha Západu March
Slovenian	Rdeca knjiga Zahoda Marka
Spanish	Libro Rojo de la Frontera del Oeste
Swedish	Västmarkgrevskap Röd bok
Tajik Cyrillic	Сурх Китоб аз Ғарб сарҳад
Tamil	மேற்கு எல்லையின் சிவப்பு புத்தகம்
Thai	หนังสือสีแดงของชายแดนตะวันตก
Turkish	Bati hudut Kirmizi Kitap
Turkmen	Günbatar serhediň gyzyl kitaby
Ukrainian Cyrillic	Червона книга Заходу mарка
Urdu	ریڈ بک آف دی ویسٹرن فرنٹیئر
Uzbek	Ғарбий чегаранинг Қизил китоби (Cyrillic) G'arbiy chegaraning Qizil kitobi (Latin)
Vietnamese	Sổ đỏ biên giới phía Tây
Welsh	Llyfr Coch y Ffin Orllewinol
Yiddish	רויט ספר פון די מערב פראָנטיער