Which fictional manuscript is presented as the source of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings?

The Red Book of Westmarch is the fictional manuscript presented as the source of The Lord of the Rings.

Within Tolkien’s imagined editorial history, Bilbo Baggins begins the book’s records, and Frodo Baggins continues them. Samwise Gamgee later adds material, while other redactors and copyists are associated with preserving and transmitting the text. The manuscript is said to contain accounts of the events involving the One Ring and the War of the Ring.

The device gives The Lord of the Rings the form of a translated historical record rather than a story with no textual origin. Tolkien sometimes presents himself as a translator or editor of material from Middle-earth, reinforcing the sense that the narrative has passed through earlier languages and documents.

The Red Book is not the same as the Book of Mazarbul, which is a record found in Moria and read by the Fellowship. It also should not be confused with Tolkien’s real working manuscripts, which are preserved and studied as historical literary documents.