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Tolkien wanted it to be one big book, but the publishers sold it as three separate volumes, in six separate books over the space of more than a year.
The names for the three volumes were chosen by Tolkien himself. They only brought all three volumes together later on.
hmm, my first copy was in Swedish and from the sixties. To my surprise that thick book was just the first out of three...(remember when I got closer to the end and couldn't figure out how it all would end in just a few pages, which it, obviously, didn't)
Sorry Jay, but that's wrong. Tolkien intended for it to be one novel but it never happened. 'The Fellowship of the Ring' was published in 1954 with the next two released over the next year into 1955...long before the film was made.
I have purchased the books both ways; as a trilogy as first published, then much later as a single huge volume.
I also agree with all comments above, I bought the books 20 odd years ago when I was a teenager and they were definetly sold as a trilogy.
Yes, when I read the books around 15-16 years ago I read them as single books. Also, laying on my desk is a copy of Fellowship of the Rings with a price of 95 cent stamped on it from 1965
"The Fellowship of the Ring", "the Two Towers" and "The Return of the King" made up the trilogy "The Return of the King" and they were three separate books. I first read them in order in 1968.
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[deleted user]
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Nov 26, 2012 12:35PM
I bought my copy of "The Fellowship of the ring" in 1974, many years before the film. It says that the 1st edition was in 1954. Of course that doesn't mean that Tolkien didn't intend it to be one book called "The Lord of the Rings" ... just that it was published as a trilogy right from the start.
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I did not know that. In my copy of LOTR, there is notation saying that when the book was first released, the publishers wanted it to be in three books because it was too long, but Tolkien refused to allow it to be published as such. Besides, it is ONE book, it is only sold in three parts by greedy publishers. BOOOOOOOO!!!!

The names for the three volumes were chosen by Tolkien himself. They only brought all three volumes together later on.
Interesting history - thanks for clearing this up. Tolkien was an academic and wouln't have had much clout with the publishers. I think we all agree that publishers or producers "milk" series to death (turning 3 books into 4 or 3 stories into 4 or 5 films in order to empty our pockets....





