William Roy DeWitt Wallace and his wife, Lila, published the first issue of "Reader's Digest" as a collection of condensed articles to help readers keep up with current events.
In 1921, DeWitt established the Reader's Digest Association and began to seek subscribers to help pay for the first issue.
The first issue of "Reader's Digest" sold for 25 cents, and 5,000 copies were printed.
As of March 2009, "Reader's Digest" had published 50 editions of its magazine in 21 languages. The magazine reached 130 million households in 79 countries.
The Reader's Digest Association publishes 92 magazines and sells roughly 68 million books and other media products annually.