I just wanted to point out that the first three "books" of
The Once and Future King (
The Sword and the Stone, The Witch in the Wood and
The Ill-Made Knight) were originally published separately and only when the fourth part was finished were they edited and published together as
The Once and Future King.
The first part,
The Sword in the Stone, is the only one is still available separately and it's worth reading even if you've read it in the larger book. A lot of scenes were edited out and new scenes written like Merlin's battle with Madame Mim and the goose scenes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Swo...#The_revisions