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

J.R.R. Tolkien’s first published book of fiction was The Hobbit, released in 1937.

The book began as a children’s fantasy about Bilbo Baggins, a comfort-loving hobbit drawn into an adventure with the wizard Gandalf and thirteen dwarves. Their journey leads toward the Lonely Mountain, where the dragon Smaug guards a vast treasure.

Tolkien had already written extensive mythology and invented languages, but The Hobbit was the first of his major Middle-earth works to reach print. Its success led his publisher to request a sequel, eventually producing The Lord of the Rings.

Readers sometimes assume The Lord of the Rings came first because it is Tolkien’s best-known work. It was published later, in three volumes from 1954 to 1955. The Hobbit is also more explicitly shaped as a children’s story, although its later editions connect it more closely to the darker mythology of the wider legendarium.