J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings was divided into three volumes for publication.
The volumes are The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King. The complete work is one novel, but paper shortages and production costs influenced its publication as a three-volume set between 1954 and 1955.
The Fellowship of the Ring appeared in July 1954, followed by The Two Towers later that year and The Return of the King in October 1955. Each volume contains two internal books, so the complete novel has six numbered books plus appendices.
A frequent misunderstanding is that Tolkien wrote three separate novels. He conceived The Lord of the Rings as a single work, while the three-volume format was a publishing arrangement. The title The Two Towers also caused uncertainty during preparation, and Tolkien considered several possible interpretations before publication.