J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion appeared posthumously in 1977.
Tolkien died in 1973, leaving behind a vast body of writings about the creation, languages, peoples, and history of his imagined world. His son Christopher Tolkien edited this material into a publishable volume, which Allen & Unwin released on 15 September 1977. The book is not a conventional novel with one continuous plot; it is a collection of mythic histories, legends, genealogies, and related texts covering the earliest ages of Tolkien’s world.
The Silmarillion begins with creation and the shaping of Arda, then follows the Valar, the Elves, the wars against Morgoth, Númenor, and events leading toward the later history of Middle-earth. Its central jewels are the Silmarils, whose theft drives much of the First Age tragedy.
Readers sometimes confuse its publication year with Tolkien’s death year or with the dates of The Lord of the Rings. The 1977 book was edited and published after Tolkien’s death, based on materials he had developed over many decades.