Which 1954 novel by J.R.R. Tolkien begins The Lord of the Rings?

The Fellowship of the Ring is the 1954 novel that begins J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. It was published in the United Kingdom on 29 July 1954 as the first part of a three-volume work.

The book contains two main sections. The first follows Frodo Baggins after he inherits the One Ring from Bilbo and leaves the Shire. The second follows the formation and early journey of the Fellowship, whose members seek to prevent Sauron from recovering the Ring.

Tolkien’s publisher divided the story into volumes because of postwar paper shortages and production costs, not because he originally conceived it as a conventional trilogy. The next volumes were The Two Towers and The Return of the King, published in 1954 and 1955.