Chapter 10, The Lord of the Rings Are Published Summary and Analysis

"I had great difficulty (it took several years) to get my story published, and it is not easy to say who is most surprised at the result: myself or the publishers!" (p. 209). This is the first comment in Letter #159 from a letter to Dora Marshall 3 march 1955. This debunks the myth of the overnight success. The Hobbit was first published in 1937, and then was re-issued when The Lord of the Rings were published in the early 1950s.

Also in 1955, the author writes to D. Auden. He makes numerous comments. They include miraculous connections that may have appeared to be flukes. He thinks that his publisher did this good deed for him because: when this man was still a boy, the not-yet-publisher had been introduced to the story and...