<P> The Lord of the Rings started as a sequel to J.R.R. Tolkien 's work The Hobbit , published in 1937 . The popularity of The Hobbit had led George Allen & Unwin , the publishers , to request a sequel . Tolkien warned them that he wrote quite slowly , and responded with several stories he had already developed . Having rejected his contemporary drafts for The Silmarillion , putting on hold Roverandom , and accepting Farmer Giles of Ham , Allen & Unwin thought more stories about hobbits would be popular . So at the age of 45 , Tolkien began writing the story that would become The Lord of the Rings . The story would not be finished until 12 years later , in 1949 , and would not be fully published until 1955 , when Tolkien was 63 years old . </P>
<P> The Lord of the Rings started as a sequel to J.R.R. Tolkien 's work The Hobbit , published in 1937 . The popularity of The Hobbit had led George Allen & Unwin , the publishers , to request a sequel . Tolkien warned them that he wrote quite slowly , and responded with several stories he had already developed . Having rejected his contemporary drafts for The Silmarillion , putting on hold Roverandom , and accepting Farmer Giles of Ham , Allen & Unwin thought more stories about hobbits would be popular . So at the age of 45 , Tolkien began writing the story that would become The Lord of the Rings . The story would not be finished until 12 years later , in 1949 , and would not be fully published until 1955 , when Tolkien was 63 years old . </P>
which comes first the hobbit or lord of the rings
which comes first the hobbit or lord of the rings
The Hobbit
The Hobbit