World's Best Reading is a series of classic books published by Reader's Digest beginning in 1982. The series is distributed as a mail order membership club. In addition some individual volumes are available for sale directly through the Reader's Digest website. The series began with single annual volumes in 1982 and 1983, then expanded to bi-monthly editions for years 1984–1995, and is published approximately every six weeks. The series is still in print. Many of the editions are ornately illustrated and included specially commissioned artwork. Each volume includes a small paper pamphlet with a biography of the author.
| No. | Title | Author | Date | ISBN | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 001 | The Red Badge of Courage | Stephen Crane | 1982 | [1] 1982/1983/1984 (US) 2000(UK)[2] | ||
| 002 | Wuthering Heights | Emily Brontë | 1983 | 1982/1985(US) 1982/1985(AUS) 1990(UK) 2010(US/UK) | ||
| 003 | The Last of the Mohicans | James Fenimore Cooper | 1984 | 1984(US) 1994/2002(UK) 1995(AUS) | ||
| 004 | Jane Eyre | Charlotte Brontë | 1984 | 1984/1998(US) 1991/2001(UK) 1998/2000(AUS) | ||
| 005 | Pride and Prejudice | Jane Austen | 1984 | 1984/1986(US) 1991(UK) 1998 (AUS) | ||
| 006 | A Tale of Two Cities | Charles Dickens | 1984 | 1984/1993/2011(US) 1993/1994/2001/2003/2012(UK) 1985/1999/2001(AUS) | ||
| 007 | A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court | Mark Twain | 1984 | 1984(US) | ||
| 008 | The Scarlet Letter | Nathaniel Hawthorne | 1984 | 1984/1990/2011(US) 1990(AUS) 1990 (CAN) 2012 (UK) | ||
| 009 | Tess of the D'Urbervilles | Thomas Hardy | 1985 | 1985(US) 1991/2002(UK) 2002(AUS) | ||
| 010 | The House of the Seven Gables | Nathaniel Hawthorne | 1985 | 1985(US) 1996(UK) | ||
| 011 | Little Women | Louisa May Alcott | 1985 | 1985(US) 1992/2000 (UK) 1995/2000(AUS) | ||
| 012 | The Adventures of Tom Sawyer | Mark Twain | 1985 | 1980/1985/1986/1990 (US) 1992/2003 (UK) | ||
| 013 | Great Expectations | Charles Dickens | 1985 | 1985(US) 1990/1994/2002(UK) 1991/2000(AUS) | ||
| 014 | The Call of the Wild and White Fang | Jack London | 1985 | 1985 (US) 1991/2001 (UK) 2001(AUS) | ||
| 015 | Kidnapped | Robert Louis Stevenson | 1986 | 1986/1991(US) 1990(UK) 2001(AUS) | ||
| 016 | The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn | Mark Twain | 1986 | 1986(US) 1991(UK) 2011 (US/UK) | ||
| 017 | Tales of Suspense | Edgar Allan Poe | 1986 | 1986(US) 1992/2001(UK) | ||
| 018 | A Study in Scarlet and The Hound of the Baskervilles | Sir Arthur Conan Doyle | 1986 | 1986(US) 1990/1991(UK) 1998(AUS) | ||
| 019 | Silas Marner | George Eliot | 1986 | 1986(US) 1993/2003(UK) 2001(AUS) | ||
| 020 | David Copperfield | Charles Dickens | 1986 | 1986(US) 1996(UK) 1986(AUS) | ||
| 021 | The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Tales | Washington Irving | 1987 | 1987 (US) | ||
| 022 | The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes | Sir Arthur Conan Doyle | 1987 | 1987(US) 1992/2001 (UK) 2001 (AUS) | ||
| 023 | For the Term of His Natural Life | Marcus Clarke | 1987 | 1987(AUS) | ||
| 024 | The Gift of the Magi and Other Stories | O. Henry | 1987 | 1987(US) 1993(UK) | ||
| 025 | Oliver Twist | Charles Dickens | 1987 | 1987(US) 1992(UK) 1998/2002(AUS) | ||
| 026 | Life on the Mississippi | Mark Twain | 1987 | 1987(US) | ||
| 027 | Treasure Island | Robert Louis Stevenson | 1987 | 1987(US) 1987/1992(UK) 1998(AUS) | ||
| 028 | The Old Curiosity Shop | Charles Dickens | 1988 | 1988(US) 1988(AUS) 1997(UK) | ||
| 029 | The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes | Sir Arthur Conan Doyle | 1988 | 1988(US) | ||
| 030 | Around the World in 80 Days | Jules Verne | 1988 | 1988/1992(US) 1990/2001(UK) | ||
| 031 | A Christmas Carol and Other Stories | Charles Dickens | 1988 | 1988(US) 1994(UK) 2001(AUS) | ||
| 032 | The Prince and the Pauper | Mark Twain | 1988 | 1988(US) 1999(UK) | ||
| 033 | The Virginian | Owen Wister | 1988 | 1988(US) | ||
| 034 | A Passage to India | E.M. Forster | 1989 | 1989(US) 1989(AUS) 1998(UK) | ||
| 035 | The Sea-Wolf | Jack London | 1989 | 1989(US) 1993(UK) | ||
| 036 | The Song of Hiawatha and Other Poems | Henry Wadsworth Longfellow | 1989 | 1989(US) | ||
| 037 | Twice-Told Tales (contains 27 of the 36 tales in the original two-volume set) | Nathaniel Hawthorne | 1989 | 1989(US) 2000/2004(UK) | ||
| 038 | A Tree Grows in Brooklyn | Betty Smith | 1989 | 1989(US) 1999(UK) | ||
| 039 | Moby Dick | Herman Melville | 1989 | 1989(US) 1996(UK) | ||
| 040 | Kim | Rudyard Kipling | 1990 | 1988/1990(US) 1994(UK) | ||
| 041 | Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas | Jules Verne | 1990 | 1990(US) 1993(UK) 1990(AUS) | ||
| 042 | On Our Selection and Our New Selection | Steele Rudd | 1990 | 1990(AUS) | ||
| 043 | Lost Horizon | James Hilton | 1990 | 1990(US) | ||
| 044 | The Innocents Abroad | Mark Twain | 1990 | 1990(US) 1991(CAN) | ||
| 045 | O Pioneers! | Willa Cather | 1990 | 1990(US) | ||
| 046 | Doctor Zhivago | Boris Leonidovich Pasternak | 1990 | 1990(US) 1998(UK) | ||
| 047 | Tales from the Arabian Nights | 1991 | 1991(US) | |||
| 048 | The Grapes of Wrath | John Steinbeck | 1991 | 1991(US) 1994(UK) 1992(AUS) | ||
| 049 | Uncle Tom's Cabin | Harriet Beecher Stowe | 1991 | 1991(US) 1995(UK) | ||
| 050 | The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde | Robert Louis Stevenson | 1991 | 1991(US) 1997(UK) | ||
| 051 | The Return of Sherlock Holmes | Sir Arthur Conan Doyle | 1991 | 1991(US) 1992(AUS) 1995/1996/2001 (UK) | ||
| 052 | The Adventures of Robin Hood | Paul Creswick | 1991 | 1991 (US) 1992 (AUS) | ||
| 053 | A Journey to the Center of the Earth | Jules Verne | 1992 | 1990(CAN) 1992(US) 1995(UK) | ||
| 054 | The Celebrated Jumping Frog and Other Stories | Mark Twain | 1992 | 1992(US/UK) 1993(AUS) | ||
| 055 | Lew Wallace | 1992 | 1992(US) 1998 (UK) | |||
| 056 | The Good Earth | Pearl S. Buck | 1992 | 1992(US) 1993(AUS) | ||
| 057 | The Caine Mutiny | Herman Wouk | 1992 | 1992(US) 1993 (AUS) | ||
| 058 | Anne of Green Gables | L. M. Montgomery | 1992 | 1992 (US) 1993 (AUS) 1994 (UK) | ||
| 059 | The Wind in the Willows | Kenneth Grahame | 1993 | 1993(UK) | ||
| 060 | The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes | Sir Arthur Conan Doyle | 1993 | 1993(US) 2005(UK) | ||
| 061 | Dusty and Man Shy | Frank Dalby Davison | 1993 | 1993(AUS) | ||
| 062 | Life with Father | Clarence Day | 1993 | 1993(US) 1994(AUS) | ||
| 063 | The Yearling | Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings | 1993 | 1993(US) 1994(AUS) 1998(UK) | ||
| 064 | To Kill a Mockingbird | Harper Lee | 1993 | 1993(US) 1999(UK) | ||
| 065 | The Robe | Lloyd Cassell Douglas | 1993 | 1993(US) | ||
| 066 | Heart of the West | O. Henry | 1993 | 1993(US) 1993 (CAN) 1994(AUS) | ||
| 067 | Rebecca | Daphne du Maurier | 1994 | 1994(US) 1997(UK) | ||
| 068 | The Thirty-Nine Steps and Greenmantle | John Buchan | 1994 | 1994(UK)(Also part of the Impress Best Mystery series) | ||
| 069 | Emma | Jane Austen | 1994 | 1994(US) 1996/2003(UK) | ||
| 070 | To Build a Fire and Other Stories | Jack London | 1994 | 1994(US) 1998(UK) | ||
| 071 | King Solomon's Mines | H. Rider Haggard | 1994 | 1994(US) 1996(UK) 1994/1999(AUS) | ||
| 072 | Captains Courageous | Rudyard Kipling | 1994 | 1994(US) 2000(UK) | ||
| 073 | Roughing It | Mark Twain | 1994 | 1994(US) | ||
| 074 | Lorna Doone | R. D. Blackmore | 1995 | 1995(UK/SA) 2013(US) | ||
| 075 | A Town Like Alice | Nevil Shute | 1995 | 1995(UK/SA) | ||
| 076 | Tales of the South Pacific | James Michener | 1995 | 1995(US) 2000(UK) | ||
| 077 | Two Years Before the Mast | Richard Henry Dana Jr. | 1995 | 1995(US) 2000(UK) | ||
| 078 | Beau Geste | Percival Christopher Wren | 1995 | [3] 1994(UK) 1995(US) 2000(AUS) | ||
| 079 | Robert Louis Stevenson | 1995 | 1995(US) 1995(UK) | |||
| 080 | Goodbye Mr. Chips and Other Stories | James Hilton | 1995 | 1995(US) | ||
| 081 | Lost Horizon, Good-bye Mr. Chips and Other Stories | James Hilton | 1997 | 1997(UK/SA) | ||
| 082 | The Jungle Books | Rudyard Kipling | 1997 | 1997(UK/SA), Illust | ||
| 083 | How Green Was My Valley | Richard Llewellyn | 1997 | 1997(UK/SA) | ||
| 084 | Three Men in a Boat and Three Men on the Bummel | Jerome K. Jerome | 1998 | 1998(UK) | ||
| 085 | The Three Musketeers | Alexandre Dumas | 1999 | Verified existence - No ISBN | 1999(US) 1999(UK) | |
| 086 | The Mayor of Casterbridge | Thomas Hardy | 1999 | 1999(UK) | ||
| 087 | Far From the Madding Crowd | Thomas Hardy | 2002 | 1999(UK) 2002(US) | ||
| 088 | The Age of Innocence | Edith Wharton | 2003 | 2003(US) | ||
| 089 | This Side of Paradise | F. Scott Fitzgerald | 2003 | 2003(US) | ||
| 090 | Frankenstein | Mary Shelley | 2003 | 2003(US) 2004(UK) | ||
| 091 | Sense and Sensibility | Jane Austen | 2003 | 2003(UK) | ||
| 092 | Lord Jim | Joseph Conrad | 2003 | 2003(US) | ||
| 093 |
| 2004 | ||||
| 094 |
| 2004 | ||||
| 095 | Robinson Crusoe | Daniel Defoe | 2004 | Verified existence - No ISBN | 2005(US) | |
| 096 | My Antonia | Willa Cather | 2004 | 2004(US) | ||
| 097 | The Invisible Man and The Island of Dr. Moreau | H. G. Wells | 2004 | 2004(US) | ||
| 098 | Gulliver's Travels | Jonathan Swift | 2004 | 2004(UK) | ||
| 099 | The Moon and Sixpence | W. S. Maugham | 2004 | 2004(US) | ||
| 100 | Main Street | Sinclair Lewis | 2004 | 2004(US) | ||
| 101 | Daisy Miller and The Turn of the Screw | Henry James | 2005 | 2005(US) 2005(UK) | ||
| 102 | The Jungle Books | Rudyard Kipling | 2005 | 2005(US) | ||
| 103 | Madame Bovary | Gustave Flaubert | 2005 | 2005(US) 2005(US/UK) | ||
| 104 | Mansfield Park | Jane Austen | 2005 | 2005(US/UK) | ||
| 105 | The Magnificent Ambersons | Booth Tarkington | 2005 | 2005(US) | ||
| 106 |
| 2005 | ||||
| 107 | The War of the Worlds and The Time Machine | H. G. Wells | 2005 | 2005(US) | ||
| 108 | Little Men | Louisa May Alcott | 2006 | 2006(US/UK) | ||
| 109 | The Man of Property | John Galsworthy | 2006 | 2006(US/UK) | ||
| 110 | Hard Times | Charles Dickens | 2006 | 2006(US/UK) | ||
| 111 | Barchester Towers | Anthony Trollope | 2006 | 2006(US) | ||
| 112 | Moll Flanders | Daniel Defoe | 2006 | 2006(US/UK) | ||
| 113 | The American | Henry James | 2007 | 2007(US/UK) | ||
| 114 | The Phantom of the Opera | Gaston Leroux | 2007 | 2007(US/UK) | ||
| 115 | Persuasion | Jane Austen | 2007 | 2007(US/UK) | ||
| 116 | The Picture of Dorian Gray | Oscar Wilde | 2007 | 2007(US/UK) | ||
| 117 | The Black Arrow | Robert Louis Stevenson | 2007 | 2007(US/UK) | ||
| 118 | Dracula | Bram Stoker | 2007 | 2007(US/UK) | ||
| 119 | Sons and Lovers | D. H. Lawrence | 2008 | 2008(US/UK) | ||
| 120 | Northanger Abbey | Jane Austen | 2008 | 2008(US/UK) | ||
| 121 | The House of Mirth | Edith Wharton | 2008 | 2008(US/UK) | ||
| 122 | The Prisoner of Zenda and Rupert of Hentzau | Anthony Hope | 2008 | ISSN 1544-4449 | 2008(US/UK) | |
| 123 | The Ambassadors | Henry James | 2008 | 2008(US/UK) | ||
| 124 | Heart of Darkness and End of the Tether | Joseph Conrad | 2008 | 2008(US/UK) | ||
| 125 | Agnes Grey | Anne Brontë | 2009 | 2009(US/UK) | ||
| 126 | Howards End | E. M. Forster | 2009 | 2009(US/UK) | ||
| 127 | The Confidence-Man | Herman Melville | 2009 | 2009(US/UK) | ||
| 128 | Return of the Native | Thomas Hardy | 2009 | 2009(US/UK) | ||
| 129 | The Secret Garden and A Little Princess | Frances Hodgson Burnett | 2009 | 2009(US/UK) | ||
| 130 | Ethan Frome and Summer | Edith Wharton | 2009 | 2009(US/UK) | ||
| 131 | Fathers and Sons | Ivan Turgenev | 2010 | 2010(US/UK) | ||
| 132 | Where Angels Fear to Tread and A Room With a View | E. M. Forster | 2010 | 2010(US/UK) | ||
| 133 | Adam Bede | George Eliot | 2010 | 2010(US/UK) | ||
| 134 | Wuthering Heights | Emily Brontë | 2010 | 1982/1985(US) 1982/1985(AUS) 1990(UK) 2010(US/UK)VDL 2010 (US/UK) | ||
| 135 | Jo's Boys | Louisa May Alcott | 2010 | 2010(US/UK)VDL 2011 | ||
| 136 | The Way of All Flesh | Samuel Butler | 2010 | 2010(US/UK) | ||
| 137 | Treasure Island / Kidnapped | Robert Louis Stevenson | 2010 | VDL 2010 (US/UK) | ||
| 138 | Oliver Twist | Charles Dickens | 2010 | VDL 2010 (US/UK) | ||
| 139 | Pride & Prejudice | Jane Austen | 2011 | VDL 2011 (US/UK) | ||
| 140 | Babbitt | Sinclair Lewis | 2011 | 2011(US/UK) | ||
| 141 | The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn | Mark Twain | 2011 | 1986(US) 1991(UK) 2011 (US/UK) | ||
| 142 | The Scarlet Letter | Nathaniel Hawthorne | 2011 | 1984/1990/2011(US) 1990(AUS) 1990 (CAN) 2012 (UK) | ||
| 143 | A Tale of Two Cities | Charles Dickens | 2011 | 1984/1993/2011(US) 1993/1994/2001/2003/2012(UK) 1985/1999/2001(AUS) | ||
| 144 | The Good Soldier | Ford Madox Ford | 2011 | 2011(US/UK) | ||
| 145 | The Jungle | Upton Sinclair | 2011 | |||
| 146 | A Study In Scarlet / The Hound Of The Baskervilles | Sir Arthur Conan Doyle | 2011 | VDL 2011 (US/UK) | ||
| 147 | Moonstone | Wilkie Collins | 2011 | VDL 2011 (US/UK) (There also seems to be a Reader's Digest Impress Edition in the US) | ||
| 148 | Robinson Crusoe | Daniel Defoe | 2011 | VDL 2011 (US/UK) | ||
| 149 | The War of the Worlds / The Time Machine | H. G. Wells | 2011 | VDL 2011 (US/UK) | ||
| 150 | Jo's Boys | Louisa May Alcott | 2011 | VDL 2011 (US/UK) | ||
| 151 | Ivanhoe | Sir Walter Scott | 2012 | VDL 2012 (US/UK) [4] | ||
| 152 | The Last of the Mohicans | James Fenimore Cooper | 2012 | VDL 2012 (UK) | ||
| 153 | Lorna Doone | R D Blackmore | 2013 | 1995(UK) 2013(US) |
There are many variations within the WBR series. The most common variations include cloth boards versus smooth boards, patterned end papers with ribbon bookmarks versus plain colored end papers without ribbon bookmarks, different colored covers but retaining the same embossed cover image, and books that have completely different cover art than other editions.
One example of cloth boards versus plain boards is Far From The Madding Crowd. Both the cloth and the plain editions are the same color with the same artwork, only the material of the boards is different. Other examples include Moby Dick, Treasure Island, O Pioneers, The Sea Wolf, and Uncle Tom's Cabin.
An example of the variation of patterned end papers with ribbon bookmarks versus plain colored end papers without bookmarks is Silas Marner. Both books have the same artwork on the outside cover, but on the inside one edition has plain white end papers and the other has marble patterned end papers and a colored ribbon bookmark. Other titles with this variation are Pride And Prejudice, The Call of the Wild/White Fang, The Scarlet Letter, The House of Seven Gables, The Last Of The Mohicans, A Tale Of Two Cities, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court, Little Women, Jane Eyre, Great Expectations, Twice-Told Tales, and The Innocents Abroad.
An example of a title having different colored covers but retaining the same embossed artwork image is A Tale Of Two Cities. Cover variations of A Tale of Two Cities include a blue cloth cover, a brown cloth cover, and a red cover. Other editions with this variation include The Innocents Abroad, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, A Tale of Two Cities, Tales of Suspense, Silas Marner, Wuthering Heights (old cover style), Ben Hur, The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer, and The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
Tess of the D'Urbervilles is an example where in two editions the boards are the same color (gray) but the embossed parts of the cover and the faux quarter leather covering are different colors. The artwork and faux leather is red in one edition and blue in the other edition.
Some books have been printed with completely different cover artwork from other editions. Examples include Barchester Towers, The Jungle Books, Captains Courageous, Beau Geste, and Wuthering Heights. For some books, such as The Jungle Books and Barchester Towers, the UK edition was published with illustrations where the American version was not.
A spelling variation in a book title occurs with A Journey to the Center of the Earth. In the UK, the edition was published under the title A Journey to the Centre of the Earth.
In the United States, the James Hilton titles (Lost Horizon, Good-bye Mr. Chips and Other Stories) were printed in two separate volumes whereas in the UK edition, they were combined into one book.
Each edition in the WBR series includes a sheet folded in half numbered with page numbers one through four with a synopsis of the history of how the book came to be published and a short biography of the author and perhaps some information about the artist in illustrated editions. On Our Selection/Our New Selection is different from the rest of the books because not only is the author biography insert included, but also a folder containing six 5.5" x 8.5" prints of artwork by artist Lionel Lindsay. The prints included are titled Judy Wasn't Frightened Of Jew-Lizards, Sarah Thought It A Fine Effect, It's A Lie!' Dad roared, Daniel Damascus Rudd, Sir!, and Dad Come to See the Great Metropolis. These are illustrations found in the actual book. One print is not from the book. It is not given a title and depicts the father scratching his bare head riding a horse in the woods at a walk towards the lower right hand foreground.
Reader's Digest also issued a book safe as part of the WBR series, Paradise Lost by John Milton. The outside of the book safe is designed to look like other editions in the series, but inside the safe are two separated compartments. The interior of the safe is lined with light gray velvet and is kept closed with velcro strips on the back of the cover and on the middle divider between the two compartments.
Vivat Direct Limited, t/a Reader's Digest, a publishing company in the UK that usually prints Reader's Digest Select Editions,[5] has published World's Best Reading books starting in 2010: Kidnapped/Treasure Island, Wuthering Heights, Oliver Twist, Pride & Prejudice, A Study In Scarlet/The Hound Of The Baskervilles(), Moonstone, Robinson Crusoe, The War of the Worlds/The Time Machine, Jo's Boys, Three Men in a Boat/Three Men on the Bummel, and Ivanhoe . These editions were published with insert pages like the other World's Best Reading books with the World's Best Reading logo at the top of the first page just like the other inserts. However, the inserts have the initials WBR above the spelled out World's Best Reading on the insert pages and the WBR initials on the spine of the books. These books are different from the original World's Best Reading books because they are bound in cloth and do not have the faux quarter leather binding over the spine. They also have illustrations on the front and back covers, unlike the rest of the series which have illustrations on the front cover board only.