J.R.R. Tolkien published the first volume of The Lord of the Rings in 1954.
The first volume, The Fellowship of the Ring, was published in the United Kingdom on 29 July 1954. The second volume, The Two Towers, followed later in 1954, and the third, The Return of the King, appeared in 1955. The work was issued in three volumes mainly for practical publishing and cost reasons, not because Tolkien originally conceived it as three separate novels.
The story begins with Bilbo’s birthday party and follows Frodo Baggins after he inherits the One Ring. The first volume introduces the formation of the Fellowship and ends after the group is broken apart.
A frequent mistake is to date the whole work to 1955, the year of the final volume. The publication span was 1954–1955, with The Fellowship of the Ring appearing first in 1954.