In 1920, DeWitt Wallace created a sample magazine containing condensed articles from other sources. Publishers were not interested, so Wallace decided to publish it on his own, with the help of his new wife, Lila. Working out of offices in New York, they published the first issue in February 1922 and sold it for 25 cents.
In 1923, a 1-year subscription by mail was available for a special rate of $2.75. Subscription numbers grew quickly. In 1925, the Wallaces hired their first full-time employee. By 1929, the magazine was also available on newsstands. By 1934, the magazine length expanded to 128 pages, double the original 64 pages. By 1935, the circulation was nearly 1.5 million. The Wallaces would continue to actively manage the business until the 1970s, when they were in their 80s.
In 1939, soon after the initial international edition of Reader's Digest was published in the United Kingdom, the magazine and organization had expanded enough that a bigger headquarters facility was needed. The Reader's Digest Association moved to a large Georgian building in Chappaqua, New York. The building has continued to expand ever since to accommodate the growing company.
The magazine's popularity in the United States soon led to its publication in many countries worldwide. In 1940, the first foreign-language edition was published for Latin American distribution. A Swedish edition was first published in 1943; a Finnish edition was started in 1945. Numerous other editions in many other languages have followed.
"Reader's Digest" has retained an essential look and tone yet also evolved over the years. Although it began as a collection of condensed articles, it soon began including original content and is now approximately 80 percent original content. For decades, all articles were listed on the magazine cover, but that changed in 1998. The advent of the Internet has brought changes too: Now much of the magazine content is available at the website.