"Friends of old, you have been gathered hereto answer the threat of Mordor"

[LePetitChoux]

I have a question concerning this, and it may be rather trivial as I have been banned (can you believe it?) from reading LotR until I read lots of other books, which I am, so therefore if my memory is slighly rusty, please forgive me.<BR>In the film, as the quote in the title of this thread suggests, Elrond is making out that the Council was summoned to Rivendell. However, I got the distinct impression from the book that Imladris was a secret valley that only elves knew how to find it(so, logically following this through, they'd really invite a load of men and dwarves to it). Also, I can almost remember that either Boromir or Gimli or both had gotten into it by accident (if this isn't accurate, please forgive me). <BR>Also, I'm sure it would have taken a lot of planning and time to summon the councilees (is that a word?), seeing as the only postage system in Middle-Earth was horseback (or maybe Fell Beasts), and news of the ring had come with Gandalf, only a few days before Frodo. Before this, as far as I can remember, Sauron's plans hadn't really been taken notice of. So how could Elrond invite everyone?<BR>I don't mean to be picky if this is another of those needless lines that just create complications among die-hard Tolkienites, but I'm wondering whether this was in the book too and I missed it.