the history of the lord of the rings is a four-volume work by christopher tolkien published between 1988 and 1992 that documents the process of j. r. r. tolkien's writing of "the lord of the rings". the "history" is also numbered as volumes six to nine of "the history of middle-earth" ("home", as below). some information concerning the appendices and a soon-abandoned sequel to the novel can also be found in volume twelve, "the peoples of middle-earth".