DeWitt and Lila Acheson Wallace began publishing the
Reader's Digest magazine in 1921. In the spring of 1950 their Reader's Digest Association launched the Reader's Digest Condensed Books direct-mail
subscription series. More than 213 volumes have been published, as well as many other series and sets of condensed books.
The Condensed Books series holds a unique and ubiquitous book publishing franchise that has vanquished all competitors. Like
many other franchises, the Condensed Books are sold directly to the consumer, have a consistent and standardized format and
quality, are mass-marketed, heavily promoted, and a popular product.
In 1993, he coedited and contributed tothe Long Island Book Collectors Journal 5. This is a slightly expanded version of a paper presented to the Second Annual Conference of the Society for the History
of Authorship, Reading and Publishing (SHARP) at the Center for the Book, Library of Congress, Washington, DC, July 1994.