Bob Dylan Says He ‘Regrets’ an ‘Error in Judgment’ in Selling Machine-Signed Art and Books: ‘I Want to Rectify It Immediately’

The rare public statement says he is 'working with Simon & Schuster and my gallery partners' to address the controversy over prints and other items advertised as hand-signed. Dylan says he has only used the autopen process since he began suffering from vertigo in 2019.

By Chris Willman
Nov 26, 2022 8:31am PT

Bob Dylan issued a rare public statement Friday night to admit that he “regrets” having made “an error in judgment” in using machine technology to affix duplicate signatures to artwork and books that were advertised and sold as hand-signed over the past three years.

He says the use of autopen signatures only occurred since 2019, when he was afflicted with a case of vertigo, and on through the pandemic, when he was not able to have staff assist him with the hand-signing he had previously done. Dylan says was given “the assurance that this kind of thing is done ‘all the time’ in the art and literary worlds.” Now that it has come to light and stirred controversy, the singer-songwriter says, “I want to rectify it immediately. I’m working with Simon & Schuster and my gallery partners to do just that.”

Other musicians have been suspected of using autopen for purportedly hand-signed items, and in rare instances have even owned up to it, but the others have not been selling art prints that routinely sell for $3,000 to $15,000, as Dylan’s art prints do. Dylan’s statement indicating that he has used for autopen to sign artwork follows Simon & Schuster’s admission one week ago that a batch of $600 autographed copies of Dylan’s new book, “Philosophy of Modern Song,” had been machine-signed, with refunds immediately offered.

A gallery that has specialized in selling Dylan art prints, the U.K.-based Castle Galleries, issued a statement Saturday to say it was “reaching out to each and every one of our collectors who purchased any print from the (pertinent) editions to offer a solution to fully rectify the matter.” It’s believed that galleries that sold the recent artwork will be announcing a plan to deal with the issue early this week.

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