What was J.R.R. Tolkien’s first published book-length work of fiction?

J.R.R. Tolkien’s first published book-length work of fiction was The Hobbit.

The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, was published by George Allen & Unwin on 21 September 1937. It follows Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit who leaves the Shire with Thorin Oakenshield and a company of Dwarves to reclaim treasure from the dragon Smaug.

The book began as a children’s fantasy adventure, but its setting and mythology connected it to Tolkien’s wider legendarium. The success of The Hobbit led Tolkien’s publisher to request a sequel, which eventually became the much larger work The Lord of the Rings.

The Hobbit is sometimes remembered only as the source of Smaug or Bilbo’s encounter with the Ring. It also introduced readers to places and peoples that Tolkien later developed in greater depth. The book appeared seventeen years before the first volume of The Lord of the Rings, making it the earlier published entry point to Middle-earth.