"ONE OF THE FINEST CHILDREN'S FANTASIES OF THE 20TH CENTURY": T.H. WHITE'S ARTHURIAN TRILOGY

WHITE, T.H. [Arthurian Trilogy] The Sword in the Stone. WITH: The Witch in the Wood. WITH: The Ill-Made Knight. London: Collins, 1938, (1940), (1941). Three volumes. Octavo, original cloth, original dust jackets. $6500.

Lovely first edition set of White’s renowned Arthurian trilogy, including the first edition of the first book, The Sword in the Stone, published in London, and the preferred first English editions of the two sequels.

This series of three novels is White's popular retelling of England's greatest epic, the Arthurian cycle. The first novel, The Sword in the Stone, "stands as one of the finest children's fantasies of the 20th century" (Encyclopedia of Fantasy, 1011). While the first edition of The Sword in the Stone was published in White's native England, the two sequels were published in the United States prior to their English release; however, the English first editions are generally preferred. A fourth installment, The Candle in the Wind, only appeared in the 1958 omnibus volume The Once and Future King, and was never published separately. Cawthorn & Moorcock, Fantasy 100: 54. Clute and Grant, 1010. Owner signature.

Books near-fine, with only a few marks to cloth, foxing to edges of Sword. Expert restoration to all three original dust jackets. An extremely desirable set.