<P> The work was initially intended by Tolkien to be one volume of a two - volume set , the other to be The Silmarillion , but this idea was dismissed by his publisher . For economic reasons , The Lord of the Rings was published in three volumes over the course of a year from 29 July 1954 to 20 October 1955 . The three volumes were titled The Fellowship of the Ring , The Two Towers and The Return of the King . Structurally , the novel is divided internally into six books , two per volume , with several appendices of background material included at the end . Some editions combine the entire work into a single volume . The Lord of the Rings has since been reprinted numerous times and translated into 38 languages . </P>
<P> The work was initially intended by Tolkien to be one volume of a two - volume set , the other to be The Silmarillion , but this idea was dismissed by his publisher . For economic reasons , The Lord of the Rings was published in three volumes over the course of a year from 29 July 1954 to 20 October 1955 . The three volumes were titled The Fellowship of the Ring , The Two Towers and The Return of the King . Structurally , the novel is divided internally into six books , two per volume , with several appendices of background material included at the end . Some editions combine the entire work into a single volume . The Lord of the Rings has since been reprinted numerous times and translated into 38 languages . </P>
what order do the lord of the rings books go in
what order do the lord of the rings books go in
The Fellowship of the Ring , The Two Towers and The Return of the King
The Fellowship of the Ring , The Two Towers and The Return of the King