Nov. 23 (UPI) — People who bought limited edition copies of a book penned by Bob Dylan are getting a refund after they turned out to contain a replica signature rather than the promised original, the book’s publisher confirmed.
In a statement issued earlier in the week, Simon and Schuster acknowledged the mistake for the books, which sold for $599.
The publisher initially promised buyers the limited edition copies were “hand signed” by the legendary musician. Customers immediately started complaining that they only contained a replica signature, after the books began arriving.
“To those who purchased The Philosophy of Modern Song limited edition, we want to apologize. As it turns out, the limited edition books do contain Bob’s original signature, but in a penned replica form. We are addressing this immediately by providing each purchaser with an immediate refund,” Simon and Schuster wrote in an apology on Instagram.
“Shameful. This post isn’t enough. Who allowed this to happen? This is attempted fraud to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Someone needs to be held accountable,” one fan commented on the publisher’s post.
The books hit shelves on Nov. 1 and came with a letter from CEO Jonathan Karp vouching for the authenticity of the signature.
“You hold in your hands something very special, one of just 900 copies available in the US of The Philosophy of Modern Song signed by Bob Dylan. This is Bob’s first book of new writing since Chronicles, Volume One, published in 2004, and since winning the Nobel Prize in literature in 2016. This letter is confirmation that the copy of the book you hold has been hand-signed by Bob Dylan,” the letter states.
Without the Dylan signature, the books retail for $45.
