The witch in the wood
By: by T. H. White, with decorations by the author
Publisher: G. P. Putnam's sons
Published: 1939
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 269
Subjects: Arthur, -- King -- Fiction
First sentence: THE LAND OF LOTHIAN AND ORKNEY lies in the northern latitudes. It is a country of bog and mountain, where the wind whistles all day, and at night the turf fires glow with small flames in a kind of rusty saffron. The nearest neighbors live ten miles apart, and the grouse say "Talk," and the wild merlins can be seen sweeping over the swelling lands in their pursuit of pipits and larks and the white-bottomed wheatears which dodge into gorse bushes. It is all heather and loveliness, and the town people say: "Aow, ain't it 'orrible. I can't bear them lonely places with nothink in them. It's sort of melancholy, annit?"
Notes: This is the original 1939 edition. As of July 2024, **every single edition** following this one, including all of those published as part of the omnibus "The Once and Future King" and every e-book release, contain a later revision (which might as well be called a rewrite). The latter is much shorter and darker in tone.
The beginning of the two editions is different, so check the incipit below for a quick way of determining which edition you have.