J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings was published between 1954 and 1955.
The work appeared in three volumes: The Fellowship of the Ring in July 1954, The Two Towers later in 1954, and The Return of the King in 1955. Although often called a trilogy, Tolkien regarded it as one novel divided into volumes because of its length and publishing constraints.
The story follows the attempt to destroy the One Ring, beginning in the Shire and expanding across Middle-earth. Its narrative combines invented history, languages, geography, poetry, and competing cultures, giving the book the scope of a fictional historical tradition.
The dates are often mixed up with The Hobbit’s 1937 publication or the later film trilogy. Peter Jackson’s film adaptations were released from 2001 to 2003, decades after the original novel appeared.