LotR - Prologue

[Kuruharan]

So, in short, I think that JRRT's purpose in making this part of the prologue and not the appendices is to give readers a background on hobbits, which I think is especially helpful for some people who, for example, just picked the book up off the shelf randomly.

This may just be me, but when I pick a book randomly off the shelf I dive right into part of the story. The introduction and/or prologue are the last places I look.

However, again, that may just be me.