Twelve Long Years

When the adless Reader's Digest (U.S. circ. over 8,000,000) started its international editions in 1938, Editor DeWitt Wallace soon hit a snag. At 25-c-, the world's biggest magazine was too expensive for the mass of readers in most foreign countries. Beginning with the Spanish-language edition in 1940, Wallace cut the price and began carrying advertising in his international editions. Circulation and advertising rose steadily, but so did production costs, and the 24 foreign editions in eleven languages, with a circulation of 6,300,000, continued in the red. Last week, on the tenth anniversary of the Spanish edition, the Digest had something to celebrate. After twelve years of losses, it expects to break even this year on its international operations.

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