Books

Three volumes. 8vo. 423, [1]; 352; 416 pp., w/ maps (3 large folding, 1 at end of each vol.). Uniformly bound in blue cloth, gilt lettering front covers & spines (minor shelfwear, minor thumbing to fore-edges), w/ d.j.s. cover art by Walter Lorraine (minor edgewear, darkening to spines, minor closed tears on vols. I & III on spines, ghosting of old tape repairs on versos), still VG/VG- set, all preserving $ 5.95 price on front flaps, preserved in open-backed slipcase. First American edition, 14th printing of vol. I, 11th printings of Vols. II & III, of Tolkien's gound breaking fantasy classic which was originally published successively in England by George Allen & Unwin from 1954-1955, with sheets imported to the United States for use by Houghton Mifflin for the American editions. Due to the copyright controversy spawned by the tremendously successful Ace paperback edition launched by Donald Wollheim in 1965 which went onto sell 100,000 copies, this edition was retired and replaced with 2nd Revised edition in 1967, which featured an expanded Return of the King, and entirely new bindings and jacket art.

The Fellowship of the Ring is the first of three volumes of the epic novel The Lord of the Rings by the English author J.R.R. Tolkien. It is followed by The Two Towers and The Return of the King. The story begins with the discovery of the One Ring, which had been lost for centuries, and follows a group of heroes who set out on a quest to destroy it and prevent the dark lord Sauron from fulfilling his malevolent designs.