Author

J.R.R. Tolkien books in order

104 books, 1922 to 2024, and 2 series

Where readers start

The Hobbit1937 · 310 pages

The most read of J.R.R. Tolkien’s books, by 838 Open Library readers.

Series

The Lord of the Rings

4 books
  1. 1The Fellowship of the Ring1954
  2. 2The Two Towers1954
  3. 3The Return of the King2001
  4. 6The End of the Third Age1994

The History of Middle-earth

11 books
  1. 1The Book of Lost Tales1983
  2. 3The Lays of Beleriand1985
  3. 4The Shaping of Middle-Earth1986
  4. 5The Lost Road and Other Writings1987
  5. 6The Return of the Shadow1988
  6. 7The Treason of Isengard1989
  7. 8The War of the Ring1990
  8. 9Sauron Defeated1992
  9. 10Morgoth's Ring1993
  10. 11The War of the Jewels1994
  11. 12The Peoples of Middle-Earth1996

Standalone books

  • 1922Middle English Vocabulary. Designed for Use with Sisam's Fourteenth Century Verse and Prose
  • 1925Sir Gawain and the Green Knight with E. V. Gordon and Norman Davis
  • 1936Beowulf
  • 1949Farmer Giles of Ham
  • 1962The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book
  • 1964Tree and Leaf
  • 1966The Tolkien Reader
  • 1967Smith of Wootton Major
  • 1974Bilbo's Last Song
  • 1975Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, and Sir Orfeo with Christopher Tolkien
  • 1976The Father Christmas Letters
  • 1977The Silmarillion with Christopher Tolkien
  • 1980Poems and Stories
  • 1980Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth with Christopher Tolkien and ʻImanuʼel Loṭem
  • 1981The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien with Humphrey Carpenter
  • 1982Mr. Bliss
  • 1983The Monsters and the Critics, and Other Essays
  • 1985The Fall of Gondolin with Christopher Tolkien
  • 1993Tales from the Perilous Realm
  • 1995The Lord of the Rings. Appendices
  • 1996Realms of Tolkien
  • 1998Roverandom
  • 1998The Silmarillion. 1/?
  • 2001Beowulf with Christopher Tolkien
  • 2001The Children of Húrin
  • 2008Tolkien On Fairy-stories
  • 2009The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún
  • 2013The Fall of Arthur
  • 2015The Story of Kullervo
  • 2016A Secret Vice
  • 2016The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun with Verlyn Flieger
  • 2017Beren and Lúthien with Christopher Tolkien and ʻImanuʼel Loṭem
  • 2021The Nature of Middle-Earth
48 more, with fewer than 10 readers each
  • 1960Pictures by J. R. R. Tolkien with Christopher Tolkien
  • 1967Smith of Wooten Major and Farmer Giles of Ham
  • 1967The Road Goes Ever on with Donald Swann
  • 1972The Hobbit the Musical with Ruth Perry
  • 1977The Hobbit Desk Calendar 1978
  • 1977THE SILMARILLION CALENDAR 1978
  • 1981The Old English Exodus
  • 1982Finn and Hengest with Alan Joseph Bliss
  • 1983The Silmarillion. 2/3
  • 1984J.R.R. Tolkien, Der Mythenschöpfer with Helmut W. Pesch
  • 1984The Adventures of Tom Bombadil
  • 1987J.R.R. Tolkien Soundbook/Audio Cassettes/Sbc 101
  • 1988Raiders of Cardolan (Middle Earth Role Playing/MERP)
  • 1989Oliphaunt
  • 1990Ancrene Riwle
  • 1991HOBBIT BIRTHDAY BOOK
  • 1993Poems
  • 1994Poems from the Lord of the Rings
  • 1994Tolkien's Middle-Earth
  • 1994Tolkien's World
  • 1996Arnor
  • 1998The Silmarillion. 3/3
  • 1999Poems from the Hobbit
  • 1999The Tolkien Diary 1999
  • 1999Tolkien Diary with Ted Nasmith
  • 2000The History of the Lord of the Rings with Christopher Tolkien
  • 2000The Tolkien 2001 Desk Diary
  • 2001Pearl and Sir Orfeoa
  • 2001The History of Middle-Earth III with Christopher Tolkien
  • 2001Tolkien Diary 2002
  • 2002A Tolkien Miscellany
  • 2002Beowulf and the Critics
  • 2002The " Lord of the Rings " Jigsaw Book
  • 2002The Complete History of Middle-Earth with Christopher Tolkien
  • 2002The History of Middle-earth with Christopher Tolkien
  • 2002The Lord of the Rings, Part 1
  • 2003Tolkien Diary 2004
  • 2005A Middle English Reader and Vocabulary with Kenneth Sisam
  • 2005The Tolkien Treasury
  • 2011The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit
  • 2015Art of the Lord of the Rings with Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull
  • 2018The Great Tales of Middle-earth with Christopher Tolkien and Alan Lee
  • 2021Parma Eldalamberon 17
  • 2022Tolkien Calendar 2023
  • 2023Battle of Maldon with Peter Grybauskas
  • 2023History of the Hobbit
  • 2023Tolkien Calendar 2024
  • 2024Collected Poems of J. R. R. Tolkien with Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond

Books by year

12, 3193619501960197019801990200020102024
  1. The Hobbit 1937 · 838
  2. The Fellowship of the Ring 1954 · 618
  3. The Two Towers 1954 · 436

Most read: The Hobbit, from 1937.

Open Library readers, to September 2026.

When people read them

2017201820194772020202120222023202420252026to Sep

Read most in 2020, by 477 Open Library readers.

Open Library readers, to September 2026.

In numbers

Writing
1922–2024
Books
104
Pages
12,351
Languages
23

Editions in Catalan, Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish and Ukrainian.

Written with

  • Christopher TolkienThe History of Middle-earth

Authors with the same subjects

Keep track of J.R.R. Tolkien’s books in Kabook

On iPhone, iPad and Android. Your library stays on your phone; an account is optional.

Download on the App StoreGet it on Google Play

From Open Library’s data, September 2026.