Reader's Digest Condensed Books turned 40 this year. The first volume in the series was mailed to 100,000 customers. The Digest says that today, a volume sells more than 1 million copies in the United States. On a worldwide basis, more than 21 million volumes in 10 languages were sold in 17 countries in 1989.
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Barbara J. Morgan, editor-in-chief of Condensed Books, says the selected books are pared by 30 percent to 50 percent by cutting "words within a sentence or lines within a paragraph, so the cuts are barely perceptible."