Who published J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings in the United Kingdom?

George Allen & Unwin published J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings in the United Kingdom.

The novel appeared in three volumes: The Fellowship of the Ring in 1954, followed by The Two Towers and The Return of the King in 1955. The publisher was based in London and had already issued The Hobbit in 1937, so Tolkien had an established relationship with the company.

The trilogy was not initially published as three separate stories in the modern sense. It was one long novel divided into volumes because of production and paper constraints. Tolkien preferred the collective title The Lord of the Rings, while the volume titles identified the sections readers bought separately.

Houghton Mifflin published the American editions, which is why it is sometimes given as the answer. That company was the principal United States publisher, whereas George Allen & Unwin handled the original British publication.