History Main / TheAnnotatedEdition

* While The Complete {{Peanuts}} does not have annotations, there is an online set of annotations for the various volumes here: [[http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Annotations_of_The_Complete_Peanuts]].

** ''Literature/TalesOfTheBlackWidowers'' is a [[{{Anthology}} collection]] with an introduction to explain the inspiration for the series, and an afterword for each story to explain more details about the publication.

** ''Literature/IsaacAsimovsAnnotatedGilbertAndSullivan'' provides an exhaustive annotation for all 14 Creator/GilbertAndSullivan operettas, including the three that nobody remembers anymore. Many of Gilbert's allusions are either particularly British or particularly Victorian, and Gilbert used the full range of the English language vocabulary as well as occasional terms from other languages. All of this provides rich annotation fodder.

* ''Literature/AsimovsGuideToShakespeare'': These volumes provide an overview of many details that are otherwise lost on people who are unfamiliar with the environment in which Creator/WilliamShakespeare was writing. So many details, in fact, that most of the lines are absent from the book itself, making this more of a companion book than a republished copy of William's folios. Dr Asimov recommends ''The Signet Classic Shakespeare'' books to read alongside these notes.

* Almost all editions of Sun Tzu's ''Literature/TheArtOfWar'' include annotations by multiple ''classical-era'' authors, most notably Cao Cao. These make up 80% or so of the book and are normally considered an indispensible part of the text, providing far more information than the original work. Modern-era publishers will often add a ''second'' set of notes. These annotations help because even educated Chinese readers would have problems deciphering 2500-years-old Chinese, and even if they can, some of the things said in it are vague, and some context is useful, and other things require some knowledge of early Chinese history to make sense.

* ''ComicStrip/BloomCounty: The Complete Library'' has annotations to explain then-relevant pop-culture references and explain who the political figures being caricatured are. Breathed himself pops up from time to time to explain character origins or thought processes, but mostly just to tell us which strips he thinks are his [[FunnyMoments crowning moments of funny]] and which are {{Old Shame}}s.

* ''Creator/IsaacAsimov's Annotated Gilbert and Sullivan'' provides an exhaustive annotation for all 14 Creator/GilbertAndSullivan operettas, including the three that nobody remembers anymore. Many of Gilbert's allusions are either particularly British or particularly Victorian, and Gilbert used the full range of the English language vocabulary as well as occasional terms from other languages. All of this provides rich annotation fodder.

* David Willis adorns every page of his ''Webcomic/{{Shortpacked}}'' collections with annotations, and scatters them sporadically about the {{Walkyverse}} collections.

* The printed collections of ''PennyArcade'' have text commentary.
* ''{{Narbonic}}'' is a special case, in that it's available in a ''separate'' annotated edition, which came after the "vanilla" release was completed.

* Many compilations of stories by Creator/HPLovecraft include annotations explaining the historical context or how individual stories fit into the greater CthulhuMythos.

* ''The Annotated Literature/SherlockHolmes'' is a two volume omnibus of all of Creator/ArthurConanDoyle's Holmes stories, in best-guess chronological order, with lots of annotations. Following the tradition of Holmsian scholarship, the annotations are notable in assuming that the stories are non-fiction and that Holmes and Watson are real people. The annotators have a tendency to chide Dr. Watson every times he makes a "continuity error" or "misremembers something" in his writings.

* ''Webcomic/BobAndGeorge'' has the [[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/000401c on-site commentary,]] which currently goes up to February 10th, 2006.

Also common with certain classic works of {{Literature}}, especially those with a reputation for being "dense." ''Literature/FinnegansWake'' and ''{{Ulysses}}'' by Creator/JamesJoyce can be nearly impenetrable without annotation.

* The second printing of ''AmericaTheBook'' contains humorous "fact check" annotations in red ink.

* Jess Nevins has a cottage industry annotating Creator/AlanMoore's ''LeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen''. An interesting variation in that his annotations are not published WITH the books, but first on the web, and, at least for Vols. I and II, in book form separately (''Heroes And Monsters'' and ''The Blazing World''). Moore has said that the existence of these annotations meant that "we could be as obscure and far-reaching as we wanted".

* Neil Gaiman's ''ComicBook/{{The Sandman}}'' is being released in an annotated four-volume set. An interesting variation here, as the annotated version has reprinted the entire series without colour, using the original black-and-white line-art, as opposed to being a strict reprint with added footnotes.

* Sometimes, non-Western literature, especially translated versions of Japanese literature/light novels such as ''Anime/WelcomeToTheNHK'' have endnotes to explain even contemporary references which may seem obvious to a Japanese person if they are rooted in the context of the novel, but a Western person like an American or a different English speaking person might miss. ADV comics, notably, is extremely enthusiastic with the footnoting. One time spending an entire page of text to explain how their translation of a single made-up Japanese word in their translation of ''Tsubasa''.

* Almost all editions of Sun Tzu's ''Literature/TheArtOfWar'' include annotations by multiple ''classical-era'' authors, most notably Cao Cao. These make up 80% or so of the book and are normally considered an indispensible part of the text, providing far more information than the original work. Modern-era publishers will often add a ''second'' set of notes. These annotations help because some of the things said in it are vague, and some context is useful, and other things require some knowledge of early Chinese history to make sense.

* ''BloomCounty: The Complete Library'' has annotations to explain then-relevant pop-culture references and explain who the political figures being caricatured are. Breathed himself pops up from time to time to explain character origins or thought processes, but mostly just to tell us which strips he thinks are his [[FunnyMoments crowning moments of funny]] and which are {{Old Shame}}s.

* ''PearlsBeforeSwine'''s treasury collections contain annotations from Pastis which try to elaborate on where ideas came from and detail reactions to the more controversial strips. And tell us which things he found impossible to draw.

* ''TwoGentlemenOfLebowski'''s first printing was an annotated edition, to keep up the pretense of it being an [[InTheStyleOf authentic reprint of a Shakespeare play]]. (To be fair, the author did such a good job keeping the linguistics authentic that a fair number of the annotations are necessary to follow the piece.)

** Nevins has also posted annotations online for ''ComicBook/KingdomCome'', ''TopTen'', ''TheNail'', and other comics.

* ''Webcomic/BobAndGeorge'' has the [[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/000401c on-site commentary,]] which currently goes up to August 1st, 2005.

* ''The Annotated Literature/SherlockHolmes'' is a two volume omnibus of all of Creator/ArthurConanDoyle's Holmes stories, in best-guess chronological order, with lots of annotations. Following the tradition of Holmsian scholarship, the annotations are notable in assuming that the stories are non-fiction and that Holmes and Watson are real people. The annotators has a tendency to chide Dr. Watson every times he makes a "continuity error" in his writings.

* ''The Annotated Literature/SherlockHolmes'' is a two volume omnibus of all of Creator/ArthurConanDoyle's Holmes stories, in best-guess chronological order, with lots of annotations.

* ''Webcomic/BobAndGeorge'' has the [[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/000401c on-site commentary]], which currently goes up to August 1st, 2005.

* Creator/IanMcKellen published an Annotated edition of his screenplay for the 1995 film adaptation of ''Film/RichardIII'', and it's an invaluable look at the process of adapting Shakespeare to the screen. It's also available for free reading on his [[http://www.mckellen.com/cinema/richard/screenplay/index.htm website]].

* ''CalvinAndHobbes'''s tenth anniversary best-of book has notes from Watterson, many of which go into more detail on his assorted {{Author Tract}}s or give artistic insight.

* ''BobAndGeorge'' has the [[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/000401c on-site commentary]], which currently goes up to August 1st, 2005.

* ''BobAndGeorge'' has the [[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/000401c on-site commentary]], which currently goes up to April 30th, 2005.