Martin Sec. Hogg (1884) tells us that this and the Martin Sire are among the earliest varieties known to have been grown in England, for they are mentioned among the fruits delivered into the Treasury by the fruiterer of Edward I in 1292. In 1530, Charles Estienne of Paris wrote of it as being cultivated in France and affirmed the Pears of Saint Martin were so named because their time of ripening coincided with the Festival of that Saint. Again in 1675 Merlet in his Abrege des bons fruits spoke of the Martin-Sec of Provins or of Champagne. Fruit medium or above, long-pyriform-obtuse, regular in form, yellowish and russeted, dotted with gray points and extensively washed with carmine on the fae exposed to the sun; flesh whitish, semi-fine, very breaking, rather dry, but sweet and perfumed, very gritty when grafted on quince; third; mid-Nov to Feb. -- Hedrick, The Pears of New York, 1921Sec. Synonyms: Dry Martin, Martin Sec, Martin Sec de Champagne, Martin Sec d'Hiver, Martin Sec de Provence, Rousselet d'Hyber, Rousselette d'Hiver, Troken Martin, Winter Rousselet, Winter Rousselette. -- W.H. Ragan, Nomenclature of the Pear, 1908.
Martin Sec. This is a pear of moderate size, of a long pyramidal form, the colour brown, with a clear red next the Sun, dotted with small white points, the flesh breaking, sometimes a little stony, surary, slightly perfumed, and of a pleasant taste - the stalk is long and bent, the eye small,but little sunk; it ripens in November and December. -- W. Coxe, A view of the cultivation of fruit trees, 1817.