Auction gem: handwritten love letters

To get you in the mood for Valentine's Day, MASTERS is highlighting a special collection of 42 handwritten love letters in the 'Auction Gem of the Week'. The sender? None other than American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan.

In 2022, the special collection of letters already disappeared under the hammer of RR Auction. The artist sent the letters to his High School Sweetheart Barbara Ann Hewitt. The two went to school together in Hibbing, Minnesota. Together the collection contains 150 pages of handwritten text.  

Reading the letters is like stepping into a time machine. The love letters were written between 1957 and 1959. They reveal, among other things, the clothing trends of that time, which car brands are popular and the music that Bob Dylan himself was listening to at that time. The artist also shares how he was already planning to use his name at that time – back then Robert Allen Zimmerman – change, his ambitions to sell millions of records and how he prepared for a local talent show.

Nice price

Of course, Bob Dylan also declares his love for Hewitt in the letters. The auctioned collection even included a Valentine's Day card. 

The love letters were found by her daughter in 2020, after Hewitt's death. Ultimately, a Portuguese bookstore in Porto paid the equivalent of €650.000 for this auction gem.