If that Catcher cover caused ol' J.D. to switch publishers, I have to wonder if this lurid cover is what sent him into seclusion. This is a British imprint of the book known in America as 9 Stories, printed around 1960 on very cheap, acidic paper. Some sort of printer's code remains at the lower left of every 16th page, probably to help the bookbinder put the thing together in the correct order. I've never noticed these codes before, so I imagine that in most books that part of the page containing the code is trimmed off. Or maybe it's like the 'end of reel' signals in films - invisible until you see one, then hard to miss. There are also some great typos, e.g. "need listmen" for "enlisted men".
I bought this book because the cover has so little to do with the contents. Anyone expecting to find the sultry stare depicted on the cover will be sorely disappointed by the thirteen year old British orphan that Esme turns out to be.