The Lord of the Rings

First Edition and Hard Cover HarperCollins 2002 Movie Tie In ISBN: 0007149131 Condition: Used Size: pp. 1137 Unusually, this edition has a translucent dustwrapper which allows the gilt lettering on the binding be seen. The Lord of the Rings is an epic high fantasy novel written by philologist and Oxford University professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit (1937), but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in stages between 1937 and 1954, much of it during World War II.