The Lord of the Rings - Behind the Story by NH Roncolato

Author:NH Roncolato
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BookBaby (eBook)

The Publishing Journey of the Book

Even though it is one of the highest selling books in the history of published writing, The Lord of the Rings almost never was. After Tolkien finished writing his epic tome in 1949, it took him five years to attain actual publication for his work. It was believed that the work was too large, too grand in scope to be a consumable product. For this reason it took many years of dialogue before he even heard back from the publishers he sent it to.

The publisher of The Hobbit, Allen & Unwin, was the original requester for a sequel. When Tolkien finally submitted The Lord of the Rings for their review, they could not see a market for the book. It was far too mature for children (which was the target audience for The Hobbit) and very different from any other work of fantasy at that time. In addition, Tolkien was looking to publish The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion simultaneously, which was even more of a deterrent.

At the same time Tolkien was in talks with one of their competitors, Collins, about publishing the two books together. However, much like Allen & Unwin, Collins was leery of the scale of the epic. They told Tolkien that the work was too expansive and needed to be cut down. Tolkien, being the perfectionist in writing that he was, refused. So in 1952, Collins declined to publish Tolkien’s work.

All was not lost, however. Thanks to the efforts from the son of the original publisher, Rayner Unwin, the first reviewer of The Hobbit when he was 10 in 1936, the book finally went to print. Yet, despite the success of Tolkien’s previous work, Allen & Unwin believed that they would incur a financial loss on the book of around £1,00015. Their agreement with Tolkien in 1954 reflected this thought, agreeing to publish it only under the auspices of a profit-sharing agreement.

The decision came later to split the book up into three different volumes. Originally, Tolkien had written it to be one story with six different sections. Although with the length of the book and the anticipation of losing money on the publication, the publishers worked with Tolkien to create the three volumes. Finally settling on the names The Fellowship of the Rings, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King, the full three volumes were published from 1954 to 1955. Each of the volumes contained two different books, which could or could not have titles based on which version is printed.

Everyone, including Tolkien, greatly underestimated the massive success the book would enjoy. As a result of the agreement made when publishing it, Tolkien was able to retire four years after publishing it, lamenting that he should have written it sooner and taken an earlier retirement.16 And that was only from the sale of hardback copies. Paperback copies came later, after BBC radio programs and interest overseas in the United States of America generated greater interest in other mediums of publication.

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