Image: George Cserna (and Avery Library) (1960)

Martin's best seller by far was The Annotated Alice (Potter, 1960), based on two classic books by Lewis Carroll. In a 2005 interview with Don Albers, Martin commented, "[I]t has sold more than a million copies if you include paperbacks and translations. It has never been out of print."

The Annotated Alice also launched a genre, with W. S. Baring-Gould, Isaac Asimov, and other authors soon pursuing similar projects. Its success also led to Martin publishing a whole series of annotated books.

He tackled another Carroll work with The Annotated Snark, and addressed a second favorite author, G. K. Chesterton, with The Annotated Innocence of Father Brown and The Annotated Thursday.

Martin also showed his appreciation for three other well-known works with his The Annotated Ancient Mariner, The Annotated Casey at the Bat, and The Annotated Night Before Christmas.

He was also a great lover of all things related to The Wizard of Oz, and made significant contributions to scholarship in that area too.


Alice / Snark / Ancient Mariner / Casey at the Bat /
Innocence of Father Brown / Night Before Christmas / Thursday /
Oz