Written in stages between 19, The Lord of the Rings is one of the best-selling books ever written, with over 150 million copies sold. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some distant time in the past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's book The Hobbit, but eventually developed into a much larger work. The Lord of the Rings is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. 20 October 1955 ( The Return of the King).