The Lord of the Rings, in Three Volumes: The Fellowship of the Ring; The Two Towers; The Return of the King [with] A Reader's Companion

Four volume set comprising: The Fellowship of the Ring; The Two Towers; The Return of the King; The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion. Based on the reset edition first published in 2002, which is a revised version of the reset edition of 1994. xxiii, [1], 407; viii, [1], 408-742; xii, 743-1178; lxxxii, 894 pp. Includes several fold-out maps, illustrations, and five appendices and three indices following text. 9 1/4 x 6. One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them. In ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, the Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, it remained lost to him. After many ages it fell by chance into the hands of the hobbit Bilbo Baggins. From Sauron's fastness in the Dark Tower of Mordor, his power spread far and wide. Sauron gathered all the Great Rings to him, but always he searched for the One Ring that would complete his dominion. When Bilbo reached his eleventy-first birthday he disappeared, bequeathing to his young cousin Frodo the Ruling Ring and a perilous quest: to journey across Middle-earth, deep into the shadow of the Dark Lord, and destroy the Ring by casting it into the Cracks of Doom. The Lord of the Rings tells of the great quest undertaken by Frodo and the Fellowship of the Ring: Gandalf the Wizard; the hobbits Merry, Pippin, and Sam; Gimli the Dwarf; Legolas the Elf; Boromir of Gondor; and a tall, mysterious stranger called Strider. Since it was first published in 1954, The Lord of the Rings has been a book people have treasured. Steeped in unrivalled magic and otherworldliness, its sweeping fantasy has touched the hearts of young and old alike, with one hundred and fifty million copies of its many editions sold around the world. In 2005 Tolkien's text was fully restored - with the full co-operation of Christopher Tolkien - with almost 400 corrections, the original red and black maps as fold-out sheets, a fully revised and enlarged index, and for the first time a special plate section containing the pages from the Book of Mazarbul, making this set as close as possible to the version that J.R.R. Tolkien intended. This Diamond Anniversary reissue of the prized boxed set marks 60 years since the first publication of The Fellowship of the Ring. These hardback editions feature Tolkien's original unused dust-jacket designs from the 1950s, reworked for this edition, and some additional text corrections. The four-volume boxed set includes The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, a unique annotated guide to the text, fully updated since its first publication in 2005, and is a book which will enhance the reader's enjoyment and understanding of one of the most influential books of the 20th century.