If you’re a reader who abhors writing in books, turn back now.

The short definition of an annotated book is a book that contains additional details outside of the original text. This is often seen with reprinted “classics” of the Western literary canon, such as an edition of The Picture of Dorian Gray where the publisher has added footnotes explaining Oscar Wilde’s allusions to history, literature, and in some cases his own biography. Or, in a less illustrious example, my own annotated copy of the Sherlock Holmes novel The Sign of Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, wherein a helpful footnote interrupted a thrilling boat chase to inform me that, “The Thames is a river in London.”*

However, preprinted annotations are not the only valid form of annotating books. Nor, to my mind, are they the most interesting.

Handwritten annotations by everyday readers are a long-standing human tradition which has rapidly increased in popularity of late. Readers have always enjoyed and continue to enjoy putting their own personal touches on their home libraries, including highlighting favorite passages and scribbling notes in the margins.

My grandfather was a voracious reader and annotator. Not only did he underline, asterisk, and write marginal notes in his copy of The Story of English, he also created a handwritten supplemental index at the back of the book. (Presumably the multi-page preprinted index the publishers provided was insufficient for his purposes.)

(Not shown: the obscure 20th century small press religious text wherein he underlined several passages and wrote over and over again in the margins, “Human sacrifice?”)

Another grandfather (not my own) created a singular annotation in his copy of Moby-Dick that nonetheless resonated with thousands of users on tumblr dot com.

More recently, annotating books has proved particularly popular in the Dark Academia subculture. The hobby reinforces many of the subculture’s values at the intersection of literature, curating a personal library, and following advice straight from Donna Tartt’s The Secret History: “It is is better to know one book intimately than a hundred superficially.”**

In the case of most public domain literature like Melville or Wilde, the reader is limited to either their own annotations or the annotations of whatever experts a given publishing company chooses to hire to produce preprinted notes for their particular special edition. We do not have the option of annotations from Melville or Wilde themselves as they are regrettably deceased.

This is not true of most books published in the 21st century. For a modern book with a living author, it’s now possible to attain handwritten annotations from the author themself on the text.

For example—in my annotations for Oak King Holly King, I explore the paragraphs of historical research behind single lines of dialogue, the queer connections between Chartism and the 1381 Peasant’s Revolt, and the secret origins of the ambassador (alias the spiderweb fae), alongside highlighting my own favorite passages and sundry other notes.

I’ve done the same for all my books, including…

Mr Warren’s Profession, wherein I divulge the symbolism in the menu of the Worst Dinner Party Ever and tell all about Rowena’s discreet sapphic flirtation methods.

Throw His Heart Over, wherein I get real nerdy about art history.

The Haunting of Heatherhurst Hall, wherein I wax poetical about New England folklore and sapphic literature.

Hold Fast, wherein I really let loose on the Moby-Dick and Poe allusions while tipping my hand when it comes to my fave characters.

Fiorenzo, wherein I finally (finally!!!) explain why the city is called Halcyon and why Fiore’s shipwrecked home is called the Kingfisher.

Tales from Blackthorn Briar, wherein I indulge in medieval trivia and rejoice in giving Mr Grigsby and Daniel the happily-ever-afters they so richly deserve.

…all of which you can find available for discerning and dedicated readers on my Etsy.

~

*Which in terms of Captain Obvious facts comes second only to my college oceanography textbook’s helpful tip: “The Indian Ocean is so named for its proximity to the subcontinent of India.”

**Whether this advice, like the bulk of the novel itself, is meant to be satirical… who can say.