Reader's Digest Condensed Books

Common card · No. 434618

Reader's Digest Condensed Books was a series of hardcover anthology collections, published by the American general interest monthly family magazine Reader's Digest and distributed by direct mail. Most volumes contained five (although a considerable minority consisted of three, four, or six) current best-selling novels and nonfiction books which were abridged (or "condensed") specifically for Reader's Digest. The series was published from 1950 until 1997, when it was renamed Reader's Digest Select Editions. Frequently featured authors in the original series include Dick Francis (17 titles), Henry Denker (16 titles), Victoria Holt (15 titles) and Mary Higgins Clark (13 titles). The series was popular; a 1987 New York Times article estimated annual sales of 10 million copies. Despite this popularity, old copies are notoriously difficult to sell, and scholarly attention has been sparse. For much of their publication schedule, the volumes were issued four times each year. Each year the company...

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