1/3/1892 • John Ronald Reuel Tolkien is born.
1938 • Houghton Mifflin publishes the first U.S. edition
of
The Hobbit.
1954 •
The Fellowship of the Ring
1955 •
The Two Towers
1956 •
The Return of the King
1965 • First American paperback editions of
The Lord of
the Rings spark college campus craze. FRODO LIVES and GANDALF
FOR PRESIDENT buttons are seen everywhere.
9/2/73 • J.R.R. Tolkien dies at the age of eighty-one.
1977 •
The Silmarillion sells more than one million copies
in the United States in hardcover.
1983 • Christopher Tolkien’s monumental twelve-part
History of Middle-earth begins with
The Book of Lost Tales.
1991 •
The Lord of the Rings Centenary Edition, illustrated
by Alan Lee
2000 •
The Lord of the Rings is the number-one "Book
of the Century" as voted by readers on Amazon.com.
5/16/01 •
J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century by Tom
Shippey is published by Houghton Mifflin.
9/22/01 • Celebrate the birthday of Bilbo Baggins and Frodo
Baggins.
11/6/01 • National laydown date for
The Lord of the Rings
Official Movie Guide and
The Fellowship of the Ring Visual Companion
12/19/01 • New Line Cinema releases the film
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
12/2002 • The film
The Lord of the
Rings: The Two Towers is released.
12/2003 • The film
The Lord of the
Rings: The Return of the King is released.
2004 • Houghton Mifflin celebrates the fiftieth anniversary
of the publication of
The Fellowship of the Ring.
