Collection of love letters sold for $670,000

A collection of love letters by young Bob Dylan has gone under the hammer in Boston for $670,000. The documents, written between 1957 and 1959, give a deep insight into the feelings and thoughts of a then completely unknown teenager from Hibbing in the US state of Minnesota. The last bid came from the “Livraria Lello” in Porto. The bookstore is considered one of the most beautiful in the world – and is now planning to archive the 42 handwritten letters with a total of 150 pages. They are intended to be made available to Dylan fans and scientists.

cars, poetry and Buddy Holly

The fundus is also of great value because there is hardly any first-hand information from Dylan’s youth. The recipient of the mail was a certain Barbara Ann Hewitt. As a spokesman for the auction house “RR Auctions” revealed, among the letters is an elaborately designed Valentine’s card, for example. In addition to declarations of love, it is often about timeless things that teenagers often deal with: clothes, cars, music. In addition, Dylan is said to have sent poems and his beloved invited to a concert by Buddy Holly.

Only the stars were enough for him

What is impressive is that the young Robert Zimmermann also shared his dreams with Hewitt. He wrote of the hope of one day selling millions of albums and appearing on the music television show American Bandstand to crowds of screaming girls. In a Lettre d’amour, Dylan, who at the time was still performing under the name Bob Zimmermann, asked what his sweetheart thought of the fact that he wanted to change his stage name – he named “Little Willie” and “Elston” as possible pseudonyms. The auction house said of the letters: “They really give a glimpse of how he’s going to present himself. It shows that he fantasizes all of this and then it comes true – he foresaw it.”

After his breakthrough, Dylan was turned away

Hewitt’s daughter found the broadcasts after her mother’s death two years ago. According to her statement, Dylan called his childhood sweetheart again in the late 1960s – and asked him to visit him in California. However, Barbara Ann Hewitt turned him down and married another man from Hibbing instead.

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