Salinger biography goes on auction block

An unauthorized and never-published biography of J.D. Salinger is expected to bring up to $6,000 at auction.

Ian Hamilton's "J.D. Salinger: A Writing Life" is being offered at Swann Auction Galleries on November 21. It is being sold by a private American collector and has a pre-sale estimate of $4,000 to $6,000.

Salinger, who died in 2010, successfully blocked release of Hamilton's book in 1987, citing the use of previously unpublished letters.

The bound, uncorrected proof was one of about 100 that were printed as review copies, said John Larson, Swann's 19th - and 20th - century literature specialist.

Larson said the timing was good, citing a new biography and recent documentary about the reclusive novelist.