When was J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring first published?
Answer
29 July 1954
J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring was first published on 29 July 1954.
George Allen & Unwin released it in London as the first volume of The Lord of the Rings. The volume contains a foreword, a prologue, and the first two books of the larger narrative. It follows Frodo Baggins after he inherits the One Ring and begins the journey that eventually takes him away from the Shire.
The Two Towers followed later in 1954, and The Return of the King appeared in 1955. Although the three volumes are often called a trilogy, Tolkien conceived the work as one long novel divided for publication. Its publication date is therefore distinct from the dates of the later volumes and from the 1957 date of the first authorized American edition.