Bob Dylan apologises for machine-printed 'signatures' - BBC

Bob Dylan has issued a rare public statement to apologise for using a machine to duplicate his signature on books and artworks since 2019.

He said he had started using an autopen after developing vertigo in 2019.

The issue came to light when fans who bought $600, limited-edition copies of Dylan's book The Philosophy of Modern Song compared photos of his signature.

Printed by a machine, not hand signed.

The row also raised questions over Dylan's artworks, prints of which can sell for up to $15,000 (£12,400).

In a statement released on Friday, the singer-songwriter admitted that some of those had also been signed by machine.

Castle Fine Art, a UK art retailer that sells prints of Dylan's paintings, said they had been "entirely unaware of the use of autopen".

Only two collections, both released in 2022, were affected, it said in a statement.

The autopen was first patented in the USA in 1803, and allowed a machine to replicate a person's signature as they wrote.

Van Morrison was recently accused of using autopen to sign CDs, although his management issued a statement denying it.

Sinead O'Connor admitted to signing her memoir with the device, saying: "I was not in a position to hand write my name 10,000 times, which is how many I was asked to sign.