J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings was first published in 1954.
The epic was released in three volumes: The Fellowship of the Ring on 29 July 1954, The Two Towers later in 1954, and The Return of the King in 1955. Although commonly called a trilogy, Tolkien conceived it as a single continuous novel rather than three independent stories.
The book follows Frodo Baggins and his companions as they attempt to destroy the One Ring in Mount Doom. Its story expands the world introduced in The Hobbit, bringing together the history of Númenor, the decline of Gondor, the conflict with Saruman, and Sauron’s campaign to recover the Ring.
The work is sometimes dated to 1955 because its final volume appeared that year. The first volume, however, established the publication year of the novel as 1954.