The paper departs from research published in an earlier thematic issue published by ZDM Mathematics Education in 2013 on mathematics textbook research and development by presenting a review of the literature in other languages and including books. Overall, the paper provides a brief overview of the more recent development of research in this area since then. The paper argues that mathematics textbooks as a theme of research have continued to receive rapidly growing attention internationally by opening to new developments such as electronic resources, historical reflections and international comparisons.