J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings was published across 1954–1955.
The three volumes appeared in sequence: The Fellowship of the Ring in July 1954, The Two Towers later in 1954, and The Return of the King in 1955. This staggered publication created the familiar three-volume form through which generations of readers encountered the story.
The dates are sometimes confused with The Hobbit, which was published in 1937, or with the dates of the later film adaptations. Tolkien had worked on The Lord of the Rings for many years, and revisions continued during the publication process, so the completed work emerged gradually rather than all at once.
The publication schedule also explains why the book is often described as a trilogy even though its story is one continuous narrative. The volumes have separate titles and publication dates, but together they form a single novel set in Middle-earth.