the author's death, United Artists sold the rights to Saul Zaentz Company, who now trade as Tolkien Enterprises. Since then all "authorised" merchandise has been signed off by Tolkien Enterprises, although the intellectual property rights of the specific likenesses of characters and other imagery from various adaptations is generally held by the adaptors. Outside commercial exploitation from adaptations, from the late 1960s onwards there has been an increasing variety of original licensed merchandise, with posters and calendars created by illustrators such as Barbara Remington. The work was named Britain's best novel of all time in the BBC's The Big Read. In 2015, the BBC ranked The Lord of the Rings 26th on its list of the 100 greatest British novels. It was included in Le Mondes list of "100 Books of the Century". Notes References Primary Secondary Sources Tolkien, Christopher (ed.) (1988–1992). The History of The Lord of the Rings, 4 vols. External links Tolkien website of Harper Collins (the British publisher) Tolkien website of Houghton Mifflin (the American publisher) Lord of the Rings, The at the Encyclopedia of Fantasy Mythopoeia 1954 fantasy novels 1954 British novels British adventure novels Sequel novels Epic novels British novels adapted into films BILBY Award-winning works Allen & Unwin books Three-volume novels Middle-earth books High fantasy novels English fantasy novels Novels set in fictional countries Middle-earth Books by J. R. R. Tolkien