America literary legend JD Salinger was very clear about his posthumous wishes. His unseen stories should not be published before 2060, 50 years after his death.

However, a scan of a paperback book entitled Three Stories has appeared on a file sharing website and verified by a J.D Salinger scholar, Kenneth Slawenski, as the author’s work. Having read the previously guarded manuscripts, he said, "They look to be true transcripts of the originals and match my own copies".

The three stories include The Ocean Full of Bowling Balls – thought to be one of the author's best works and has only previously been readable under supervision at Princeton library – Paula and Birthday Boy, which has only been available to read at the University of Texas's Harry Ransom Center.

It's hard to determine the origin of the scanned book, but it's thought to have appeared in an eBay auction.

The Ocean Full of Bowling Balls concerns the death of Kenneth Caulfield, who developed into the character of Holden's little brother Allie in The Catcher in the Rye.

J.D. Salinger's seminal work still sells 200,000 copies a year, but he withdrew from public life in the 1960s.

The book can currently be dowloaded at mediafire.com