The "books" of LOTR are just super-chapters, really. He never intended for the six "books" to be published separately; they just divide portions of the story. H

The "books" of LOTR are just super-chapters, really. He never intended for the six "books" to be published separately; they just divide portions of the story. He was very much against publishing LOTR in separate volumes, and only did so because his publishing agent told him it would never be published otherwise. It was too big a risk for them.