Fans can own a piece of Bob Dylan history by bidding on instruments, handwritten lyrics, clothing, letters, and more at the upcoming Celebrating Bob Dylan: The Aronowitz Archive, T Bone Burnett & More auction. Set for January 18th at Nashville’s Musician’s Hall of Fame & Museum, the auction will include 50 items from late journalist and Dylan author Al Aronowitz‘s personal archives as well as ten other collectibles.
Among the most eye-catching items in the Bob Dylan auction are three original, progressive drafts of “Mr. Tamborine Man”, including one with handwritten annotations, which is expected to fetch between $400,000 and $600,000. Also up for grabs are a 1983 Fender Telecaster made specifically for Dylan, handwritten lyrics to “Blowin’ in the Wind” that Dylan wrote on a hotel stationary in 2011, a 1968 Dylan original canvas painting (not a Self Portrait), a patchwork jacket Dylan wore in the 1987 film Hearts of Fire, a signed harmonica, a partial typed letter to poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, a handwritten note on poet Allen Ginsberg, and many photos, drawings, and promotional posters from early in Dylan’s career.
Among the photos are scenes from Dylan’s first Columbia Records studio session in 1961 and his visit to Andy Warhol‘s Factory in 1965. The Factory photo is probably a better memory of Dylan’s visit to the Factory than reality, as a subsequent New York Magazine article revealed that Warhol gifted Dylan one of his Elvis Presley paintings, which Dylan proceeded to use as a dart board. A collection of Nat Finkelstein‘s photographs documents the Factory scene with appearances by The Velvet Underground, Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup can paintings, and more pop art flashpoints.
Bidding is now open through Julien’s Auctions, featuring items owned by one of the pioneers of rock journalism, Al Aronowitz. Best known for introducing Dylan to The Beatles, Aronowitz’s “Pop Scene” column in the New York Post paved the way for a new way of reporting on popular music that went beyond sales statistics and teenybopper gossip rags. Aronowitz treated rock music seriously as its own independent culture—rather than something to be feared or gawked at, as was the style of contemporary reporting—and along the way became a force in the genre’s evolution by making historic introductions.
“My father was this incredible connector,” Al’s son Myles Aronowitz said. “He was much more than a journalist, he understood what these artists were trying to do. He didn’t just meet these cultural icons, he brought them together. He introduced Allen Ginsberg to Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan to The Beatles. My father was the one who turned The Beatles on for the first time. He connected Jimi Hendrix with Miles Davis, Nico with Lou Reed.”
The auction comes at a time of heightened public interest in Bob Dylan on the precipice of the new biopic, A Complete Unknown. Due to arrive in theaters on Christmas Day, the film stars Timothée Chalamet as a young Dylan and follows his arrival in New York City in 1961 as he seeks out his hero Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy). Along the way, he meets fellow folkies Pete Seeger (Ed Norton) and Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro) and begins charting a career that will alter the course of music history, all the way until his revolutionary electric performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival.
Check out the full Celebrating Bob Dylan auction here.