T.H. White Once and Future King
Book of Merlyn Sword in the Stone

T.H. White was born in Bombay, India, on May 29, 1906, where his father was a civil servant. White was sent to England for schooling, attending Cheltenham, then Cambridge. He was the English master at Stowe School from 1930-1936, after which he devoted his time to writing.

White’s first critical success was England Have My Bones (1936), an autobiographical account of his life in the country. He enjoyed hunting and fishing, and was by nature reclusive, often spending long periods isolated from others.

Although White wrote books about hunting and other sports, a detective novel, adventure and fantasy novels, and many short stories and poems, he is best known for his quartet of books on the Arthurian legend: The Sword in the Stone (1939), The Witch in the Wood (1939), The Ill-Made Knight (1940), and The Candle in the Wind (1958). The books were revised and published in one lengthy volume in 1958, The Once and Future King. That volume served as the basis for the musical, “Camelot.”

White died in January 1964, aboard a ship in Athens, Greece. He was returning from an American lecture tour. America At Last (1965), was his record of that tour.

 

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