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The author of The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger, has died at the age of 91.

A statement from the novelist’s son said he died of natural causes at his home in New Hampshire on Wednesday.

Salinger’s most famous work, The Catcher in the Rye, a tale of teenage angst, was first published in 1951 and went on to become one of the most influential novels in modern American history.

The novel has sold more than 60 million copies worldwide and remains one of the most famous pieces of post-war literature.

Salinger’s other published works - the novellas Franny and Zooey, Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction and short story collection Nine Stories - also became bestsellers but their success and the increased notoriety of The Catcher in the Rye coincided with the author’s increasingly reclusive lifestyle.

He moved to Cornish, New Hampshire, in 1953 and shied away from public and media attention in the subsequent decades, with Salinger’s presence only felt in the public eye through a series of lawsuits regarding an attempted biography and a planned publication of his previously unpublished novella Hapworth 16, 1924.

Last year he took legal action to prevent a Swedish author releasing an unauthorised sequel of sorts to The Catcher in the Rye, succeeding in preventing its publication in the US.

Salinger married 19-year-old student Claire Douglas in 1955, with a 17-year age gap between the pair. They had two children, Margaret and Matthew, and divorced in 1967.

He had a year-long relationship with 18-year-old writer Joyce Maynard in the early 70s and was also involved with actress Elaine Joyce in the 80s before meeting nurse Colleen O’Neill, who he married in 1988 and is thought to have lived with up until his death.

The author’s literary representative, Harold Ober Associates, confirmed his death on Thursday.

"Despite having broken his hip in May," the agency said in a statement, "his health had been excellent until a rather sudden decline after the new year. He was not in any pain before or at the time of his death."

The statement confirmed the author’s renowned code of seclusion would be adhered to in his passing.

"In keeping with his lifelong, uncompromising desire to protect and defend his privacy, there will be no service, and the family asks that people’s respect for him, his work and his privacy be extended to them, individually and collectively, during this time," it said.

"Salinger had remarked that he was in this world but not of it. His body is gone but the family hopes that he is still with those he loves, whether they are religious or historical figures, personal friends or fictional characters."