Which publishing company first issued J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings?

George Allen & Unwin first issued J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. The British publishing house published the three-volume work in 1954 and 1955, beginning with The Fellowship of the Ring in July 1954.

Tolkien had originally imagined a sequel to The Hobbit, but the project grew into a major epic involving the One Ring, Sauron, and the history of Middle-earth. The publisher supported the work despite its unusual length and Tolkien’s extensive revisions.

The three volumes were The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King. Although they are often called a trilogy, Tolkien conceived them as parts of one continuous novel rather than three independent stories.

In the United States, a copyright dispute later led to an unauthorized paperback edition from Ace Books. Ballantine subsequently published an authorized American edition, but George Allen & Unwin was the original British publisher.