SORT-OF SUMMARY (I didn't write this - it was posted on What.cd's forum by a user)

The story so far. Corrections welcome -- just add them.

Three short stories by J.D. Salinger (1919-2010) were to remain unpublished until 2060, but were released onto the Internet late 27Nov2013 and removed early the next day (Thanksgiving morning in the USA).

TWO LIVES

J.D. Salinger (1919-2010) enjoyed his personal creativity better if he published less because he felt the presence of a public following -- not to mention reviewers and critics -- was a constraint on his freedom. Salinger stopped publishing and instructed his estate to release his works piecemeal over many decades, as if his life as a famous author would only begin after his life as a private person had ended.

Manuscripts to be kept unpublished could be viewed by scholars (any eager person) in libraries. The libraries had typescripts of the three stories here, annotated in margins by Salinger, but not in final form. Why that kind of release? Because it was society's hubbub over artists that Salinger found constraining, not the world of the mind.

STORIES IN LIBRARIES The three short stories now released that were available in libraries:

--"Ocean Full of Bowling Balls" (typescript; important precursor to "Catcher in in the Rye") --"Paula" (early draft typed by Salinger, his notations in margins) --"Birthday Boy (1946; early draft typed by Salinger, his notations in margins)

The drafts could be read by scholars under supervision, the first at Princeton, and the other two at the University of Texas at Austin's Ransom Center. UT/Austin permitted scholars to make photocopies they were pledged not to circulate, as did Princeton until the mid-1980s.

The Internet leak did not come from either library, but . . .

25 BOOKS IN LONDON

The three stories were published as a little paperback in London, 1999, in a limited edition of 25 numbered copies, each of which declared that this presumably unauthorized act did not constitute publication of the works. The origin of this private publication is unknown. Old photocopies of the library typescripts is a possible source, or perhaps Salinger himself had a publisher review the manuscripts before ceasing all publication a few years later.

THREE BOOKS ON EBAY

A British bookseller specializing in Salinger sold three of the 25 London books, the first on 17Nov2012. Prices ranged up to 65.50 pounds sterling plus shipping (ca $110). http://feedback.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&ft...

The sales attracted no apparent attention from either eBay or the estate of J.D. Salinger.

ON THE INTERNET

The third book sold on eBay was scanned and pdfs of the page images were uploaded to what.cd. Site administrators removed the copy after being contacted by lawyers for the estate of J.D. Salinger. However, other sites began to carry copies (search Salinger Three Stories download).

Scholars say the book is faithful to the manuscripts they saw in libraries.

BOUNTY

The uploader dtauris will keep the bounty.

A what.cd member requested the community at large to provide a copy of some Salinger short stories (not exactly these three, but these three became acceptable). That was five years ago, about a year after what.cd was launched. The autonomous request system permits other members to show their approval of any request by donating part of their upload credits, creating a community-funded bounty. The bounty for the 84.49MB Three Stories file grew to over 6 terabytes, the largest in site history.

In 2002, Robert Reid (listen.com, Rhapsody) claimed the "active catalog" of all 5 major record company labels was 25,000 CDs (Gilder Technology Report 2/2002), so a 6TB bounty can download every CD in print 2 1/2 ti...