TOLKIEN, J.R.R. | [Lord of the Rings Trilogy] —The Fellowship of the Ring. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1954. —The Two Towers. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1955.—The Return of the King. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1955

TOLKIEN, J.R.R.

[Lord of the Rings Trilogy] —The Fellowship of the Ring.London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1954. —The Two Towers. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1955.—The Return of the King. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1955

All 8vo. Publisher's red cloth, red topstain. Original white, red, black and gold dust jackets; Two Towersin a rather browned jacket, Fellowshipprice-clipped.

First editions of all three volumes of the greatest work of modern fantasy.

While serving in the trenches in WWI, Tolkien conceived of these tales set in a “secondary World,” for consolation and pleasure; they developed over a period of forty years into an epic narrative.

The Lord of the Ringshas been read as an allegory for multiple good-versus-evil conflicts: post-World War I and the rise of Hitler; Christian myth; even the environment, with the Dead Marshes reflecting Tolkien’s despair over the desolation wreaked by military technology.

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West A20-22