Which 1954 novel by J.R.R. Tolkien is the first volume of The Lord of the Rings?

The Fellowship of the Ring is the first volume of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.

George Allen & Unwin published the volume on 29 July 1954. It was followed by The Two Towers in November 1954 and The Return of the King in October 1955. Although the work is often described as a trilogy, Tolkien considered it one large novel divided into six internal books, with appendices added to the final volume.

The Fellowship of the Ring introduces Frodo Baggins’s inheritance of the One Ring and the decision to take it away from the Shire. The volume follows the formation of the Fellowship and continues through the group’s journey toward Mordor, ending after the Fellowship is broken.

The novel’s title refers to the company formed at Rivendell: Frodo, Samwise Gamgee, Merry, Pippin, Aragorn, Boromir, Legolas, Gimli, and Gandalf. Its publication established the structure and characters that define the remainder of Tolkien’s epic.