J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring first appeared in Britain on 29 July 1954.
It was published by George Allen & Unwin as the first volume of The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien called the work a single long novel, but its length and publishing requirements led to its release in three volumes: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King.
The first volume introduces Frodo’s inheritance of the One Ring, the danger posed by Sauron, and the formation of the Fellowship in Rivendell. Its narrative ends after the Fellowship is broken, rather than at the conclusion of a self-contained traditional adventure.
The American edition followed later through Houghton Mifflin. Publication dates can therefore differ between bibliographies, but 29 July 1954 is the standard British first-publication date. The second volume appeared in 1954, and the third followed in 1955.