Is it?
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"Although often called a trilogy, the work was intended by Tolkien to be one volume in a two-volume set along with
The Silmarillion. For economic reasons, The Lord of the Rings was first published over the course of a year from 29 July 1954 to 20 October 1955 in three volumes rather than one under the titles
The Fellowship of the Ring,
The Two Towers, and
The Return of the King;
The Silmarillion appeared only after the author's death. The work is divided internally into six books, two per volume, with several appendices of background material. These three volumes were later published as a boxed set, and even finally as a single volume, following the author's original intent."
(I mean, not that I'd be surprised by Wikipedia - source of that quote - being wrong. I have the version in the picture on my shelf, but it isn't the picture of mine).
I had no idea it was ever published as seven volumes until just checking now...
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