Things of Middle-earth
Findegil's Copy of the Thain's Book
Type: Books & Scrolls
Description:A complete copy of the Thain's Book (an annotated copy of the Red Book) made in Gondor by Findegil in the Fourth Age and taken to the Shire:
The original Red Book has not been preserved, but many copies were made, especially of the first volume.... The most important copy, however, has a different history. It was kept at Great Smials, but it was written in Gondor, probably at the request of the great-grandson of Peregrin Took, and completed in S.R. 1592 (F.A. 172). Its southern scribe appended this note: Findegil, King's Writer, finished this work in IV 172. It is an exact copy in all details of the Thain's Book in Minas Tirith. ...
But the chief importance of Findegil's copy is that it alone contains the whole of Bilbo's 'Translations from the Elvish'.
The Fellowship of the Ring, LoTR Prologue, Note on the Shire Records
Contributors: Elena TIriel 17Jun04