The Lord Of the Rings by J R R Tolkien
The Lord of the Rings is an epic high fantasy novel written by philologist and Oxford University professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit (1937), but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in stages between 1937 and 1954, much of it during World War II.
After the success of The Hobbit, Tolkien’s publisher asked that he produce a sequel. Although written as one big work comprised of six books, The Lord of the Rings was broken into three separate volumes because of post-World War II paper shortages and size and price considerations. The print run of the first editions was very small: 3,000 copies for The Fellowship of the Ring (1954), 3,250 copies for The Two Towers (1954), and 7,000 copies for The Return of the King (1955). The Lord of the Rings went on to become one of the best-selling novels ever, with more than 150 million copies sold.
Best selling editions of The Lord Of the Rings
Collecting The Lord Of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is an epic high fantasy novel written by philologist and Oxford University professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit (1937), but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in stages between 1937 and 1954, much of it during World War II.
After the success of The Hobbit, Tolkien’s publisher asked that he produce a sequel. Although written as one big work comprised of six books, The Lord of the Rings was broken into three separate volumes because of post-World War II paper shortages and size and price considerations. The print run of the first editions was very small: 3,000 copies for The Fellowship of the Ring (1954), 3,250 copies for The Two Towers (1954), and 7,000 copies for The Return of the King (1955). The Lord of the Rings went on to become one of the best-selling novels ever, with more than 150 million copies sold.
First Edition Identification
Other Collectible or Notable Editions
Originally Tolkien did not want The Lord of the Rings series to be published in paperback. Ace books reached out to Tolkien but was dismissed. Offended and persistent, Ace found a loophole in the copyright laws, and in 1965, they released their pirated versions of the series, which sold 100,000 copies. Motivated by the piracy of his books, Tolkien got to work on revising the series for American paperback, and in 1966 Ballantine released an edited and authorized version. After a lot of rejection by fans and some negotiation with Tolkien, Ace discontinued printing their pirated copies. Today those shortly-famous paperbacks are collector items (and the reason books bear the ‘authorized editions’ tag.
The Easton Press released a three-volume set of The Lord of the Rings in full gilt-embossed Sherwood-green calf with a frontispiece by Michael Hague in 1984.
The first Folio Society edition of The Lord of the Rings was published in 1977 with illustrations by Ingahild Grathmer, the pseudonym for Queen Margrethe II of Denmark. The illustrations were re-drawn by Eric Fraser for this edition. It has since been released multiple times, including in 1979, 1990, 1997, 2002, and 2022.