Bob Dylan’s Publishers Offers Refund After Signature Scam

The publishers of Bob Dylan’s latest book are being accused of selling books with “fake signatures” of the artist. They recently clarified that they used autopen technology for this and they offered refunds to those who purchased “hand-signed” editions if they are not happy with this. (Valium)

There were 900 copies of The Philosophy of Modern Song that Simon & Schuster originally announced, personally autographed by Dylan. Apparently, fans discovered that these copies were employed with automatic replication. Their complaints have reached the publishers, thus releasing a statement in which they told that:

“To those who purchased The Philosophy of Modern Song, we want to apologize.

“As it turns out, the limited edition books do contain Bob’s original signature, but in a penned replica form. We are addressing this immediately by providing each purchaser with an immediate refund.”

Since the 19th century, autopen systems are being used. It does have an early mechanical version then but eventually transformed into a stylus through the cut shape. Although this is acceptable, especially on legal documents, such a signature doesn’t attract the value of a real one in the collectors’ market because it’s not genuine enough.

Meanwhile, in an auction, Dylan’s teenage love letters that he wrote to her high school sweetheart were sold for $670,000.