The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. WITH: The Two Towers. WITH: The Return of the King

FIRST EDITIONS, FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF ALL THREE VOLUMES. "Here are beauties which pierce like swords or burn like cold iron. Here is a book which will break your heart." -C.S. Lewis, on The Lord of the Rings. It's such an unlikely story that books written by a 62-year-old professor who had been laboring over them for 16 years would be so successful and continue to grow in stature. The new genre Tolkien introduced, however, in The Lord of the Rings: "Heroic fantasy"; "Epic Fantasy"; "World-building Fiction", whatever we choose to call it - is a huge part of our culture and has inspired an entire industry of movies, books, and games centered around epic quests in unfamiliar worlds. The books seem to speak to every generation - in 1999, The Lord of the Rings was named in an Amazon poll as the "book of the millennium"; in the 2003 BBC "Big Read" survey, The Lord of the Rings was picked as the "Nation's best-loved book." It's thrilling, then, to see these humble first editions that bring us back to where it all began. Because the volumes were issued separately and were well-read and loved, complete sets in good, unrestored condition in the original dust jackets are rare. First editions, with all first impression points. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1954-1955. Three volumes. Octavo, original publisher's red cloth, spines lettered and decorated in gilt; top edges stained red. Folding maps printed in red and black at the rear of each volume. Housed in custom box.The Fellowship of the Ring (29 July 1954), one of 3000 copies printed. Book nearly fine (fading to red topstain), bright dust jacket with toning to spine and a little edgewear. The Two Towers (11 November 1954). One of 3250 copies. Ink ownership inscription from 1974 of front free endpaper, endpapers with some staining, text block a little warped, but cloth fresh. Dust jacket with small hole on front panel (under the "O" in "TWO) some edgewear and toning. The Return of the King (20 October 1955). One of 7000 copies. Book fine with fading to topstain. Dust jacket with modest toning to spine and some scattered spots of soiling. A well-preserved and completely unrestored set. RARE. Original cloth, original dust jackets.…