On July 19th, 1954, 55 years ago today, The Fellowship of the Ring, the first volume of The Lord of the Rings, was published in London.

The book was published in three volumes (instead of JRR Tolkien’s preferred seven) over the course of more than a year. The Two Towers was published November 11th, 1954; and the final volume, The Return of the King, was published about the time the series became available in the US — October 20, 1955.

The trilogy has been translated into many languages, and inspired artwork, video games, television, and an internationally popular trilogy of movies.

The Lord Of The Rings and Tolkien’s earlier work The Hobbit have been continuously in print for 45 years, and are part of the $3 billion of new books sold annually in the US.

Via US Census Bureau.