The phrase "shorter volume" is correct and usable in written English
It can be used when referring to a book, document, or any collection of content that is less lengthy than another.
Example: "The author decided to publish a shorter volume to make the material more accessible to readers."
Alternatives: "brief edition" or "concise volume."
Of course he has written of his life before, indeed it might be argued that everything he has ever written, including his magisterial biography of Genet and the two shorter volumes on Proust and Rimbaud, are to some extent autobiographical.
Burt has published two full-length books of his own poetry and two of the shorter volumes known as chapbooks, but in the poetry world he matters because of his criticism.
A row of books on the white night table were arranged by height, from tall folios of paintings by van Gogh, Cézanne, and Gauguin to shorter volumes of the Cassuto Bible and, finally, a series of novels published by Hasifria Le'Am.
Martin said there is another four issues planned for the first volume with another two shorter volumes to follow over the next few years.
The episode was originally conceived to be the conclusion of "Generations", the second volume in the series, as Kring wanted to have shorter volumes than in season one.
In 1996, Moynihan published "Miles to Go," a short volume centered on his own experiences in the development of social policy.
(The index of this book is much longer and more varied than you'd think would be possible for such a short volume).
It was they who persuaded Bingham to expand his lecture into the short volume from which I have taken the quotation in the previous paragraph.
The editing of Auden, which has been such a success, has proceeded at its own grand pace: a volume of plays, a volume of libretti, a short volume of juvenilia (always fascinating) and two large volumes, so far, of prose.
