Bob Dylan’s handwritten love letters sell for over half a million dollars

A collection of love letters from the Nobel Prize winning singer-songwriter Bob Dylan addressed to his high school sweetheart, was auctioned for more than half a million dollars.

The archive of 42 letters totaling over 150 pages of autograph material was addressed to Barbara Ann Hewitt when the rock legend was still known as Bob Zimmerman in the 1950s. According to the Associated Press, the collection was sold to Livraria Lello, a renowned bookstore in Porto, Portugal, for $670,000.

Not only do we get glimpses of Dylan’s daily life in Minnesota, like preparing for a Hibbing High School talent show, inviting the young girl to a Bubby Holly concert in Duluth, and commentary on cars and clothes of the late ’50s, but he also hints at his greater aspirations to fame later in life. As the RR Auction website stated in its description,

“Ranging in scope and content, young Dylan reveals his dreams of changing his name and selling a million records, offering poetry and professing his never-ending affection.”

Other Dylan memorabilia sold at the auction, including 24 “Untitled Poems,” sold for $250,000. One of Dylan’s earliest autographed photos fetched more than $24,000.

Regarding Livraria Lello’s plans for what to do with high school-era love letters, the store, which calls itself “the most beautiful bookstore in the world,” said it has the archive complete and for both Dylan fanatics and would also keep him available to academics who study him, according to a statement by RR Auction.