Reception of J. R. R. Tolkien legendarium which includes "The Hobbit", "The Lord of the Rings", and "The Silmarillion". Tolkien's "The Hobbit", a children's book, was first published in 1937, and it proved popular. However, "The Lord of the Rings", first published in 1954 through 1955, would give rise to the fandom as a cultural phenomenon. Bootleg paperbacks published by Ace Books eventually found their way into colleges in the US in the 1960s. In response, a revised, authorized edition was published by Ballantine Books. The "hippie" following latched onto the book, giving its own spin to the work's interpretation, such as the Dark Lord Sauron
Tolkien family might disagree. Christopher Tolkien has been married twice. He currently lives in France with his second wife, Baillie Tolkien. Faith Tully Lilly Faulconbridge was the first wife of Christopher Tolkien, whom she married on 2 April 1951. Their son Simon was born in 1959. She produced a bust of J. R. R. Tolkien that is displayed in the English Faculty Library at Oxford University. She was born in 1928 to F. T. Faulconbridge, whom J. R. R. Tolkien knew as a fellow student from King Edward's School, Birmingham. She received her B.A. degree from St Anne's College, Oxford in 1950