J. R. R. Tolkien was born in January 1892. Oxford professor and indisputed father of modern fantasy, he published a total of 4 novels1 in his life.

Tolkien had only published some poetry and academic works when he published The Hobbit, then aged 45. He would later publish the three volumes of his magnum opus, The Lord of the Rings, between the ages of 62 and 63.

He did not publish much, and he did not publish early.

Barbara Remington's cover illustrations for the Ballantine paperback edition of The Lord of the Rings

  1. Note that we are only talking about fiction novels. He did also publish some academic work, as well as poetry and short stories↩︎