Yellowskin

The Yearbook of Tuckborough was the annals of the Took family of hobbits of Tuckborough. The Yearbook was the oldest known book in the Shire, and was most likely kept at the Great Smials of Tuckborough. It was begun around the year TA 2000 and chronicled events dating from the foundation of the Shire in TA 1601 onwards. For comparison, The Lord of the Rings commences in the year TA 3001.

The Yearbook recorded births, deaths, marriages, land-sales, and other events in Took history. Much of this information was later included in the Red Book of Westmarch. It was also known as the Great Writ of Tuckborough and the Yellowskin, suggesting that it was bound in yellow leather or some other yellow material.

Yellowskin became a source for much of the historical information, especially about the Tooks, to find its way into the Red Book of Westmarch.

The name ‘Yellowskin’presumably derives from the aged and decayed condition of the book, suggesting that the records of the Tooks were recorded on vellum, or some other form of parchment. These materials were made from animal skins, and so ‘Yellowskin’would be a literal description of the nature of the book.