Which publisher first accepted J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings?

George Allen & Unwin first accepted J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.

The British publishing company George Allen & Unwin published The Lord of the Rings in three volumes between 1954 and 1955. The first volume, The Fellowship of the Ring, appeared in July 1954; The Two Towers followed later that year, and The Return of the King appeared in 1955.

Tolkien had already worked with Allen & Unwin on The Hobbit. The publisher’s success with that earlier book helped create the opportunity for a much longer sequel. Tolkien’s manuscript was also considered by Collins, but disagreements over the form and length of the work delayed that route.

The three-volume structure was a publishing arrangement rather than a statement that the work was originally conceived as three completely separate novels. Tolkien generally regarded the story as one continuous narrative, divided internally into six books plus appendices.