Six different polyesters (6a-6c and 7a-7c) were prepared by the bulk polycondensations of the respective combinations of 1,4:3,6-dianhydro-D-glucitol (3) and 1,4:3,6-dianhydro-D-mannitol (4) with succinyl dichloride (5a), glutaryl dichloride (5b), and adipoyl dichloride (5c) at 140-180 degrees C. Polyesters having number average molecular weights up to 2.6 X 10(4) were obtained in high yields. Only polyester 7a based on 4 and 5a was partially crystalline, whereas all the other polyesters were amorphous. Thin films of these polyesters except that of 7a were spontaneously hydrolyzed in a neutral phosphate buffer solution at 50 degrees C, whereas they were reluctant to be hydrolyzed at 27 degrees C. The polyesters were more or less degraded at 27 degrees C by treatment with an activated sludge or by prolonged burial in soil.