J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings was first published in 1954–1955.
George Allen & Unwin released the novel in three volumes: The Fellowship of the Ring in 1954, followed by The Two Towers and The Return of the King in 1955. Although the work is commonly called a trilogy, Tolkien considered it one novel divided into books for publication.
The first volume appeared on 29 July 1954, and the third followed on 20 October 1955. Tolkien had spent years writing and revising the manuscript, which grew far beyond the shorter children's style of The Hobbit.
The volume structure sometimes causes confusion about the publication date. The story is one continuous narrative, but its three physical volumes did not appear simultaneously. The title The Return of the King also reflected a publishing concern: Tolkien initially worried that it might reveal too much about the plot before readers reached the ending.