TOLKIEN, J.R.R. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. The Two Towers. The Return of the King. With three folding maps. Three volumes.

London: George Allen & Unwin. 1967/1969. Second revised edition. Demy octavo. Red cloth, titled in gilt. A fine clean set in very good unpriced-clipped dust jackets.
The Lord of the Rings is an epic fantasy novel written by English academic J.R.R. Tolkien. The story
began as a sequel to Tolkien’s earlier fantasy book, The Hobbit, and soon developed into a much larger
story. It was written between 1937 and 1949, with much of it being created during World War II. The
action is set in what the author conceived to be the lands of the real Earth, inhabited by humanity but
placed in a fictional past. The main story is followed by six appendices that provide a wealth of
historical and linguistic background material. Although a major work in itself it has been subjected to
extensive analysis of its literary themes and origins.