Who better to define the term than Andy Partridge? This quote comes from a 1991 radio interview, and the question pertained to the title of the album that became Nonsuch ... Wonder Annual was considered.
It was a series of children's annuals in England, they haven't made them since the 50s and 60s, but people would always be giving you them, or you'd find them in junk shoppes, or uncles would pass them on to you, or somebody would say, `Hey, I've got some old books, do you want them?' You'd occasionally find these Wonder Annuals. They weren't such wonderful things in themselves, but it's books from that, I hate the word but i've got to say, genre. Kind of magazine article-length, interesting kids books, usually well-illustrated that you can kind of lose yourself in.
appears in:
"Wonder Annual" (one of the "new demos", a song that apparently dates from c.1991)
further reading:
The entire WFMU interview stored at Chalkhills.