Complex sentence: In 1979 with the critic Edmund Wilson he conceived the Library of America of well-made, reliable editions of important American writers and later launched The Reader's Catalogue of 40,000 paperback titles available by mail order, an analog precursor of online book selling.
Split into simpler sentences: In 1979 with the critic Edmund Wilson he conceived the Library of America, well-made, reliable editions of important American writers. He later published The Reader's Catalogue of 40,000 titles available by mail order, an analog precursor of online book selling.