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.Publishers Weekly: "Reader's Digest Condensed Book Series to Get Wider Distribution", March 2015 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.The New York Times: "New Editor at Digest's Condensed Books", August 2, 1987 Despite this popularity, old copies are notoriously difficult to sell,"Reader's Digest Condensed Books: 'as difficult to dispose of as bins of radioactive wasteClayton Library: "We DON'T ACCEPT Reader's Digest Condensed Books–they do not 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 produced a Volume 1 (winter), Volume 2 (spring), Volume 3 (summer), and Volume 4 (autumn). In later years they added a Volumes 5, and then a Volume 6, going to a bi-monthly schedule by the early 1990s. The series was produced for 47 years (1950–1997), until being renamed Reader's Digest Select Editions. (Note: UK editions seem to have been somewhat different from US editions. Pre-1992 Canadian editions also contain different titles.)
Occasional books such as The Leopard (Summer 1960), The Days Were Too Short (Autumn 1960), and Papillon (Autumn 1970) were not published in English originally but were abridgments of translations. In some cases, advanced copies of the hardcover edition were printed in paperback form. In a few cases, new editions of older works (Up from Slavery, published originally in 1901 (Autumn 1960), A Roving Commission: My Early Life, published originally in 1930 (Autumn 1951) or Goodbye Mr. Chips, published originally in 1934 (Summer 1961)) were also among the condensed selections.
1950s 1950
Volume 1 – Spring The Show Must Go On – Elmer Rice The Cry and the Covenant – Morton Thompson Autobiography of Will Rogers – Donald Day, editor Cry, the Beloved Country – Alan Paton
Volume 2 – Summer The Wooden Horse – Eric Williams Home Town – Cleveland Amory Visibility Unlimited – Dick Grace The Way West – A. B. Guthrie Jr.
Volume 3 – Autumn The Cardinal – Henry Morton Robinson Long the Imperial Way – Hanama Taski Roosevelt in Retrospect – John Gunther Young Man with a Horn – Dorothy Baker
1951
Volume 4 – Winter Anybody Can Do Anything – Betty MacDonald Elephant Bill – Lt. Col. J. H. Williams Signal Thirty-Two – MacKinlay Kantor German Faces – Ann Stringer and Henry Ries Mischief – Charlotte Armstrong
Volume 5 – Spring Blandings' way – Eric Hodgins Operation Cicero – Ludwig Carl Moyzisch Two Soldiers / from collected stories – William Faulkner The Nymph and the Lamp – Thomas H. Raddall
Volume 6 – Summer The Caine Mutiny – Herman Wouk Neither Five Nor Three – Helen MacInnes Old Herbaceous – Reginald Arkell See How They Run – Don M. Mankiewicz
Volume 7 – Autumn Fallen Away – Margaret Culkin Banning Return to Paradise – James A. Michener A Roving Commission: My Early Life – Winston S. Churchill The Southwest Corner – Mildred Walker The Arms of Venus – John Appleby
1952
Volume 8 – Winter Melville Goodwin, USA – John P. Marquand The Cruel Sea – Nicholas Monsarrat A Genius in the Family – Hiram Percy Maxim "Monarch of Goddess Island" (The Plunderers) – Georges Blond To Catch a Thief – David Dodge
Volume 9 – Spring Adventures in Two Worlds – A. J. Cronin The Gabriel Horn – Felix Holt Duveen – S. N. Behrman "Kamante and Lulu" (Out of Africa) – Isak Dinesen East Side General – Frank G. Slaughter
Volume 10 – Summer The Hidden Flower – Pearl S. Buck The Dam Busters – Paul Brickhill The City Boy – Herman Wouk My Cousin Rachel – Daphne du Maurier
Volume 11 – Autumn Matador – Barnaby Conrad Witness – Whittaker Chambers "The Law of the Jungle" (My India) – Jim Corbett The President's Lady – Irving Stone
1953
Volume 12 – Winter Hunter – J.A. Hunter Giant – Edna Ferber Through Charley's Door – Emily Kimbrough The Best Cartoons from Punch – Marvin Rosenberg & William Cole, editors Island Rescue: An Appointment with Venus – Jerrard Tickell
Spring 1953 Selections Black Widow – Patrick Quentin The Silent World – Jacques-Yves Cousteau with Frédéric Dumas East of Eden – John Steinbeck Karen – Marie Killilea The Curve and The Tusk – Stuart Cloete
Volume 14 – Summer Our Virgin Island – Robb White A Bargain with God – Thomas Savage Annapurna – Maurice Herzog A Good Man – Jefferson Young The Intruder – Helen Fowler
Volume 15 – Autumn The Bridges at Toko-Ri – James A. Michener Beyond This Place – A. J. Cronin Life Among the Savages – Shirley Jackson My Crowded Solitude – Jack McLaren Digby – David Walker
1954
Volume 16 – Winter Call Me Lucky: Bing Crosby's Own Story – Bing Crosby with Pete Martin Too Late the Phalarope – Alan Paton Time and Time Again – James Hilton Heather Mary – J. M. Scott
Volume 17 – Spring The Night of the Hunter – Davis Grubb God and My Country – MacKinlay Kantor Not as a Stranger – Morton Thompson The Best Cartoons from France – Edna Bennett, collector The Young Elizabeth – Jennette & Francis Letton
Volume 18 – Summer The Desperate Hours – Joseph Hayes General Dean's Story – William F. Dean with William L. Worden Mr. Hobbs' Vacation – Edward Streeter The Power and the Prize – Howard Swiggett "The Duchess and the Smugs" (A Wreath for the Enemy) – Pamela Frankau Tomorrow! – Philip Wylie
Volume 19 – Autumn The Dollmaker – Harriette Arnow The Anatomy of a Crime – Joseph F. Dinneen Love is Eternal – Irving Stone Around a Rusty God – Augusta Walker The High and the Mighty – Ernest K. Gann
1955
Volume 20 – Winter The Reason Why – Cecil Woodham-Smith The China I Knew (My Several Worlds) – Pearl S. Buck My Brother's Keeper – Marcia Davenport Good Morning, Miss Dove – Frances Gray Patton The Darby Trial – Dick Pearce
Volume 22 – Summer Man-Eater – Jim Corbett The Actor – Niven Busch Onions in the Stew – Betty MacDonald The Captive City – John Appleby The Missing Macleans – Geoffrey Hoare The Searchers – Alan Le May
Volume 21 – Spring Good-bye, My Lady – James Street The Dowry – Margaret Culkin Banning The Day Lincoln Was Shot – Jim Bishop The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant – Douglass Wallop Flamingo Feather – Laurens van der Post
Volume 23 – Autumn This is Goggle, or the Education of a Father – Bentz Plagemann Run Silent, Run Deep – Commander Edward L. Beach, USN Marjorie Morningstar – Herman Wouk Last of the Curlews – Fred Bodsworth First Train to Babylon – Max Ehrlich
1956
Volume 24 – Winter "The Secret of the Swamp" (Andersonville) – MacKinlay Kantor Island in the Sun – Alec Waugh An Episode of Sparrows – Rumer Godden Minding Our Own Business – Charlotte Paul The Long Ride Home – Bonner McMillion
Volume 25 – Spring Captain of the Queens – Captain Harry Grattidge with Richard Collier Beloved – Viña Delmar In My Father's House – Grace Nies Fletcher The Last Hurrah – Edwin O'Connor Boon Island – Kenneth Roberts
Volume 26 – Summer Old Yeller – Fred Gipson Harry Black – David Walker The Greer Case – David W. Peck A Thing of Beauty – A. J. Cronin A Single Pebble – John Hersey
Volume 27 – Autumn The Nun's Story – Kathryn Hulme Merry Christmas, Mr. Baxter – Edward Streeter The Success – Helen Howe The Diamond Hitch – Frank O'Rourke The Sleeping Partner – Winston Graham
1957
Volume 28 – Winter Bon Voyage – Marrijane & Joseph Hayes The Tribe That Lost Its Head – Nicholas Monsarrat The Philadelphian – Richard Powell A Family Party – John O'Hara Stopover: Tokyo – John P. Marquand
Volume 29 – Spring The Scapegoat – Daphne du Maurier The Last Angry Man – Gerald Green The Muses Are Heard – Truman Capote The Fruit Tramp – Vinnie Williams The Enemy Below – Commander D.A. Rayner
Volume 30 – Summer The Lady – Conrad Richter A Houseful of Love – Marjorie Housepian The Three Faces of Eve – Dr. Corbett H. Thigpen, MD & Dr. Hervey M. Cleckley, MD Letter from Peking – Pearl S. Buck The FBI Story – Don Whitehead "Mission to Borneo" (The Spiral Road) – Jan de Hartog
Volume 31 – Autumn Lobo – MacKinlay Kantor The Century of the Surgeon – Jürgen Thorwald By Love Possessed – James Gould Cozzens "Duel with a Witch Doctor" (The Spiral Road) – Jan de Hartog Warm Bodies – Donald R. Morris
1958
Volume 32 – Winter The Green Helmet – Jon Cleary Dunbar's Cove – Borden Deal The Twentieth Maine – John J. Pullen Life at Happy Knoll – John P. Marquand The Horsecatcher – Mari Sandoz Sharks and Little Fish – Wolfgang Ott
Volume 33 – Spring Big Caesar – Charlton Ogburn Jr. The Winthrop Woman – Anya Seton The Counterfeit Traitor – Alexander Klein The Man Who Broke Things – John Brooks Murder on My Street – Edwin Lanham
Volume 34 – Summer Seidman and Son – Elick Moll The Northern Light – A. J. Cronin Rough Road Home – Melissa Mather A Friend in Power – Carlos H. Baker Sun in the Hunter's Eyes – Mark Derby
Volume 35 – Autumn Preacher's Kids – Grace Nies Fletcher The Steel Cocoon – Bentz Plagemann Women and Thomas Harrow – John P. Marquand Green Mansions – W. H. Hudson Tether's End – Margery Allingham
1959
Volume 36 – Winter The Admen – Shepherd Mead The Rainbow and the Rose – Nevil Shute Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris – Paul Gallico The Ugly American – William J. Lederer & Eugene Burdick The White Room – Elizabeth Coatsworth Woman of Straw – Catherine Arley
Volume 37 – Spring The Secret Project of Sigurd O'Leary – Martin Quigley Dear and Glorious Physician – Taylor Caldwell Collision Course – Alvin Moscow Jungle Girl – John Moore Epitaph for an Enemy – George Barr
Volume 38 – Summer The Lion – Joseph Kessel The Light Infantry Ball – Hamilton Basso A Rockefeller Family Portrait – William Manchester "Trail to Abilene" (Born of the Sun) – John H. Culp The Big X – Hank Searls
Volume 39 – Autumn "West Wind to Hawaii" (Hawaii) – James A. Michener Advise and Consent – Allen Drury The Miracle of Merriford – Reginald Arkell Act One: An Autobiography – Moss Hart Flight from Ashiya – Elliott Arnold
1960s
1960
Volume 40 – Winter Jeremy Todd – Hamilton Maule "From the Farm of Bitterness" (Hawaii) – James A. Michener Pioneer, Go Home! – Richard Powell The City That Would Not Die – Richard Collier King Solomon's Ring – Konrad Z. Lorenz The Triumph of Surgery – Jürgen Thorwald
Volume 41 – Spring The Final Diagnosis – Arthur Hailey Mrs. 'Arris Goes to New York – Paul Gallico Strangers in the Forest – Carol Brink The Haunting of Hill House – Shirley Jackson Wolfpack – William M. Hardy
Volume 42 – Summer The Lovely Ambition – Mary Ellen Chase Trustee from the Toolroom – Nevil Shute The Leopard – Giuseppe di Lampedusa Village of Stars – Paul Stanton To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
Volume 43 – Autumn Surface at the Pole – Commander James F. Calvert, USN The Devil's Advocate – Morris L. West Up from Slavery – Booker T. Washington "Hook" (The Watchful Gods and Other Stories) – Walter Van Tilburg Clark Mistress of Mellyn – Victoria Holt The Days Were Too Short – Marcel Pagnol
1961
Volume 44 – Winter The Light in the Piazza – Elizabeth Spencer Half Angel – Barbara Jefferis A Sense of Values – Sloan Wilson "Warpath" (Northwest Passage) – Kenneth Roberts Marnie – Winston Graham
Volume 45 – Spring Fate Is the Hunter – Ernest K. Gann