J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring appeared in 1954 as the first volume of The Lord of the Rings. George Allen & Unwin published it in the United Kingdom on 29 July 1954.
The volume begins in the Shire and follows Frodo Baggins after Bilbo’s departure. Gandalf discovers the danger of Bilbo’s ring, and Frodo eventually leaves the Shire with Samwise Gamgee. Their journey leads to Rivendell, where the Fellowship is formed to carry the Ring toward Mordor.
The Lord of the Rings was issued in three volumes: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King. The work is one continuous novel rather than a trilogy written as three unrelated stories, although publication and printing constraints helped determine the volume structure.
The first volume was followed by The Two Towers in 1954 and The Return of the King in 1955. Tolkien originally considered different titles and arrangements, and the volume titles were not intended to function as simple chronological labels. The Fellowship’s formation is the defining event of the first book.