When Was The Lord of the Rings Written and Published?
Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings in stages between 1937 and 1949. It was published in three volumes: The Fellowship of the Ring on 29 July 1954, The Two Towers on 11 November 1954, and The Return of the King on 20 October 1955.
It started as a sequel to The Hobbit, which had been published in 1937.
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Written | 1937-1949, in stages |
| The Fellowship of the Ring | 29 July 1954 |
| The Two Towers | 11 November 1954 |
| The Return of the King | 20 October 1955 |
| Publishers | George Allen & Unwin (UK); Houghton Mifflin (US) |
| Second edition | 27 October 1966 |
When did Tolkien write The Lord of the Rings?
Tolkien wrote it between 1937 and 1949, much of it during the Second World War. The Hobbit had just been published, and his publisher, Allen & Unwin, asked for a sequel. What began as a follow-up for children grew into a much longer and darker story, set about sixty years after the end of The Hobbit.
↑ Back to the topWhen did each part come out?
The book appeared in London from George Allen & Unwin over about fifteen months: The Fellowship of the Ring on 29 July 1954, The Two Towers on 11 November 1954 and The Return of the King on 20 October 1955. Houghton Mifflin published it in the United States. A revised second edition followed on 27 October 1966.
↑ Back to the topWhy was it published in three parts?
Tolkien meant it to be a single book. The publisher split it for cost: a book of that size was expensive to print, and sales were expected to be modest. Delays with the maps, the appendices and the index pushed the dates back from the publisher's first plans. The volumes were not three separate stories. Each holds two of the novel's six internal "books", and the appendices sit at the end of the third.
↑ Back to the topDid it sell?
Yes. It has sold more than 150 million copies. Tolkien died in 1973, and The Silmarillion, a collection of earlier Middle-earth writings, was published after his death.
↑ Back to the topMore about The Fellowship of the Ring
This guide covers the book only. Film and TV versions differ in places.