Rare signed edition of The Catcher in the Rye on sale for £255,000

JD Salinger did not want his friends cashing in, so inscribed copy of classic novel is one of the hardest titles for collectors to acquire

It was once the most censored book in American schools and libraries. Now, the only edition of The Catcher in the Rye that the author JD Salinger signed with his childhood nickname, Sonny, is going up for sale for 225,000.

Salinger was said to have been resentful of friends and family cashing in on the success of his 1951 novel, and as a result signed copies did not make their way into the book market - an inscribed first edition of The Catcher in the Rye was sold at auction only after his death, in 2010.