Letters of JD Salinger March 20, 2010

As a tribute to J. D. Salinger (1919-2010), who died January 27, The Morgan Library & Museum will hold a pair of exhibitions of ten letters by the author. Written to Michael Mitchell, who was commissioned by Salinger to create the dust jacket for 'The Catcher in the Rye,' the letters cover a forty-year period, and constitute an extraordinarily rare and revealing correspondence. They richly document a period of Salinger's life that has remained obscure and provide hitherto unknown details about the daily habits and thoughts of this legendary author. The letters were acquired in 1998 as part of the Morgan's Carter Burden Collection of American Literature. During Salinger's lifetime the Morgan restricted access to the letters in deference to the author's widely known desire for privacy. That restriction has now been lifted and the letters are to be exhibited for the first time and will be available to scholars. The first exhibition of four letters will run through April 11. The second exhibition of six letters will open on April 13 and run through May 9. Both will be shown in the Morgan's historic McKim Building.