The Rangers - a LotRO kinship [EN-RP] Laurelin

LORD OF THE RINGS by J.R.R. TOLKIEN

This page is concerned with J.R.R. Tolkien's bestseller, "The Lord of the Rings".
It provides a summary of LOTR and backgrounds.

Lord of the Rings was published in 3 parts:
- Fellowship of the Ring (1954),
- The Two Towers (1954) and
- Return of the King (1955)

It tells the story of the hobbit Frodo Baggins, on a quest to destroy the One Ring.

•Facts on LOTR

•Background on LOTR

•Summary of LOTR

FACTS

NAME: The Lord of the Rings

AUTHOR: J.R.R. Tolkien

NUMBER OF BOOKS: 6, published in 3 parts: "Fellowship of the Ring", "The Two Towers" and "Return of the King".

FIRST PUBLISHED: 29th of July 1954 (Fellowship of the Ring, 3,000 copies), 11th of November 1954 (The Two Towers, 3,250 copies) and the 20th of October 1955 (Return of the King, 7,000 copies).

PUBLISHER: George Allen & Unwin Publishers

WORDS: 476,971 excl. title and table of contents

ESTIMATED AMOUNT OF COPIES SOLD: approx. 60 - 75,000,000

NUMBER OF TRANSLATIONS: 40

ISBN: 0-261-10320-2 (one volume edition)

 

BACKGROUND

A sequel to "the Hobbit" ?

After "The Hobbit" had been published, readers sent letters to the publisher asking "for more stories concerning hobbits". So, Stanley Unwin asked J.R.R. Tolkien to finish new material on hobbits. In first instance, Tolkien tried to put his "Legendarium" into publishable form. This manuscript contained the stories of the first Era, which Tolkien had been writing since 1916, especially his favourite story of Beren and Luthien. Tolkien called this collection of stories the "Quenta Silmarillion" since then. Unfortunately, after reviewing the manuscript, the publisher had to tell Tolkien that this work was not commercially publishable (yet). However, he asked Tolkien to write a sequel to the Hobbit.

The creation of a masterpiece

Actually, Tolkien had been working on this book since 1936, even before the Hobbit was published. The story soon developed into something far more complex than the children's story "the Hobbit" was. Although not published, he used the stories of the "Quenta Silmarillion" to lay the foundation of the world in which the story was set.
The composition of "The Lord of the Rings" took place in intervals from 1936 to 1949. Actually, Tolkien started to write a story without first having created a plot. This caused him to get stuck several times, which meant writing (and typing) all over again. During the process of writing, Tolkien sent parts of the story to his son Christopher (now the executer of the Tolkien Estate), who was serving in WW2.
When the story had finally been finished, Tolkien had to type it himself on an oldfashioned typewriter, because he couldn't afford a professional typist. When the manuscript was complete, he offered it to the publisher. Again, the publisher's son, Rayner Unwin, played a role in accepting the story for publication. However, Stanley Unwin thought the story was too large to publish in one volume. Therefore, the story was first published as a trilogy. The first print of "Fellowship of the Ring" ran 3,000 copies. The publisher had greatly underestimated the commercial success of the Lord of the Rings.

1954: Criticism and success ...

After its publication, LOTR received both positive and negative criticism. One of Tolkien's best friends, writer C.S. Lewis, was impressed by the result of Tolkiens work. Despite the criticism and the publicity the book received after its publication, it wasn't until an illegal paperback copy (ie without paying royalties) was launched in the USA in 1965 that it became immensely popular (100,000 paperback copies sold). Because of the exposure it got and its affordability, it was a major bestseller in the USA and the rest of the world. In the late 1960's, it became the book for the hippie-generation, a symbol of escaping reality.

Is there a deeper meaning to the story ?

There have been many speculations on Tolkiens motive to write the story. To his own account, Tolkiens motive was "the desire of a story-teller to tell a really long story that would hold the attention of its readers, amuse them, delight them and sometimes move them". The enormous appraise the Lord of the Rings has received since then has proven that John Ronald Reuel Tolkien succeeded his mission.

Milwaukee's university, Marquette, possesses the original manuscripts for both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The universities' director of libraries, William B. Ready, purchased the manuscripts from Tolkien in 1956. The £1500 paid for the manuscripts was undoubtedly one of the best business deals of the century.

The Lord of the Rings has in various polls been chosen to be "Book of the 20th Century".

LOTR trilogy first editions (1954-55)

 

SUMMARY OF LORD OF THE RINGS

Click the links to view an extensive summary of one of the three books of the trilogy.

**-spoiler alert-** Do not use these links if you plan to read Lord of the Rings

Summary of "The Two Towers": books 3 & 4