Profile America -- Sunday , July 19th . On this date 55 years ago , the first part of one of the most sweeping and popular high fantasy novels of the last century was published in London , " The Lord Of The Rings , " by J.R.R. Tolkien . The book appeared in three volumes over the course of more than a year . The final volume was published about the time the series became available in the U.S. The trilogy has been translated into many languages , and inspired artwork , video games , television , and an internationally popular trio of movies .