J D Salinger and 'Catcher in the Rye' are going digital

The American author's books are finally going to be available in ebook format

Copies of J D Salinger's classic novel 'The Catcher in the Rye' as well as his volume of short stories called 'Nine Stories' at the Orange Public Library in Orange Village, Ohio. AP

Almost 75 years since it was first published, you will be able to download J D Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye books in digital format, as of Tuesday August 13.

The longtime publisher of Salinger’s work, Little, Brown and Company, as announced that all of the author's work will be made available as an ebook.

The decision has been confirmed by the American author's son, Matt Salinger, who has said that the "digital holdout" has ended to cater for the portion of the audience who use ebooks exclusively, including people with disabilities who depend on the devices to read.

'The Catcher in the Rye' by JD Salinger.

“There were few things my father loved more than the full tactile experience of reading a printed book, but he may have loved his readers more – and not just the ‘ideal private reader’ he wrote about, but all his readers,” said Salinger, who oversees his father’s literary estate.

It is not just The Catcher in the Rye that will be released, Nine Stories, Franny and Zooey and Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction will all also be given the digital treatment.

JD Salinger is one of the most celebrated authors in American history. AP

News of a digital publication continues the yearlong centennial celebration of author’s birth and his contributions to literature. Salinger was born in Manhattan, New York on 1 January 1919. He died aged, 91 in 2019. In the years before he died, he lived a reclusive life in Cornish, New Hampshire; choosing to rarely talk to the media.

In addition to the ebooks, there have been new covers and a boxed edition. Salinger has also announced that unpublished work and letters by his late father will be coming out. No release date has been confirmed, but it could be as soon as this autumn when the first public exhibition from Salinger’s personal archives will be hosted at the New York Public Library.

The exhibition will include 160 personal items, including letters, family photographs and the typescript for The Catcher in the Rye. However, the publication of new works may be years away.

"It's weird, because I've spent my whole life protecting him and not talking about him," Salinger told the New York Times of his father's legacy being exhibited to the public.