J.D. Salinger’s literary trust has threatened legal action against a Washingtonville, NY, memorabilia dealer, Gary Zimet, for posting on his site a 1957 letter he says was written by the reclusive author. The letter, which Zimet’s site, Moments in Time, keeps posted in full even though it was sold to a private collector, details why Salinger never allowed a film version of “Catcher in the Rye” during his lifetime. “Since there’s an ever-looming possibility that I won’t die rich,” the letter reads, “I toy very seriously with leaving the unsold rights to my wife and daughter as a kind of insurance policy. It pleasures me no end though, I might quickly add, to know that I won’t have to see the results of the transaction.” Zimet said the letter has been on his site for a year and two months, and he “was rather shocked to receive” the Salinger trust’s letter. He added that he “won’t remove the letter,” unless forced. “Any publication — even online — without express permission by my father and/or the Trust is a direct and clear infringement of my father’s, and now the Trust’s, intellectual property rights,” says a letter obtained by Page Six, written by Matt Salinger. His letter also questions the legality of selling the document in the first place, adding, “We have referred this matter to our [intellectual property] attorneys.” The letter, meantime, is being shopped by the collector for $125,000.