The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings Boxed Set by J. R. R. Tolkien, Alan Lee (Illustrator)

From Barnes & Noble

J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings (The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King) -- plus the adventures of Bilbo Baggins, as told in the trilogy's classic prelude, The Hobbit -- is a genuine masterpiece. More than the most widely read and influential fantasy story of all time, it is arguably the most memorable and endearing tale ever written. Originally published in 1954, The Lord of the Rings set the framework from which all epic/quest fantasy since has built upon. Through the urgings of the enigmatic wizard Gandalf, young hobbit Frodo Baggins embarks on an urgent, incredibly treacherous journey to destroy the One Ring. This ring -- created, and then lost, by the Dark Lord, Sauron, centuries earlier -- is a weapon of evil, one that Sauron so desperately wants returned to him; with the power of the ring once again his own, the Dark Lord will unleash his wrath upon all of Middle-Earth. The only way to prevent this horrible fate from becoming reality is to return the Ring to Mordor, the only place it can be destroyed; unfortunately for our heroes, Mordor is also Sauron's lair. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy is essential reading not only for fans of fantasy but for lovers of classic literature as well.

--Andrew LeCount

From the Publisher

The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings
Four deluxe paperback volumes
by J.R.R. Tolkien

"J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings created a unique, wholly realized other world, evoked from deep in the well of Time, massively detailed, absorbingly entertaining, profound in meaning."

-- New York Times Book Review

Gale Research

J. R. R. Tolkien is best known to most readers as the author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, regarded by Charles Moorman in Tolkien and the Critics as "unique in modern fiction," and by Augustus M. Kolich in the Dictionary of Literary Biography as "the most important fantasy stories of the modern period." From 1914 until his death in 1973, Tolkien drew on his familiarity with Northern and other ancient literatures and his own invented languages to create not just his own story, but his own world: Middle-earth, complete with its own history, myths, legends, epics and heroes.

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