J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings began publication in the United Kingdom in 1954.
George Allen & Unwin issued the work in three volumes: The Fellowship of the Ring in July 1954, The Two Towers in November 1954, and The Return of the King in October 1955. Although commonly called a trilogy, Tolkien conceived the work as a single long novel divided into volumes because of publishing and production considerations.
The story follows Frodo Baggins and his companions as they attempt to destroy the One Ring. It grew out of Tolkien’s earlier book The Hobbit but developed into a much larger narrative involving the history, languages, and peoples of Middle-earth.
The American edition appeared through Houghton Mifflin, and later paperback editions helped make the work a worldwide bestseller. The publication dates of the three volumes are sometimes compressed into one year, but the final volume did not appear until 1955.