This episode is sponsored by the Manhattan rare Book Company.
In 1954, JRR tolken was 62 years old, and had just spent the last 16 years working industriously on a book.
It was now time to release it into the world, and he was very nervous.
And he should have been, because no one had seen anything quite like "The Lord of the Rings" before.
It was a huge risk for the Publishers who were convinced that it wouldn't sell many copies.
Who was the audience for this strange book filled with unfamiliar and unpronouncable names of people and places?
Was it a children's book like The Hobbit?
It certainly had Wizards and strange creatures, and it was also an epic adventure of some kind.
It was also very, very, long.
Three volumes in fact, and several appendices.
