Los Angeles: Fans of the singer Bob Dylan will be able to seek refunds after the book's publishers acknowledged that "hand-signed" versions really contained a printed facsimile of the star's signature.

After the release of the music legend's latest book, "The Philosophy of Modern Song," on November 1, fans were given the opportunity to purchase $600 copies of the book bearing his signature. However, some fans expressed dissatisfaction with the authenticity of the star's handwriting, according to aceshowbiz.com.

Simon & Schuster executives issued a statement apologising for the error and promising refunds: "We wish to apologise to everybody who bought the limited edition of "Philosophy of Modern Song." It turns out that Bob's original signature is included in the limited edition books, albeit in a penned imitation version. We are responding to this information by issuing each buyer a prompt refund." Using many fans believing multiple iterations of the singer's autograph had been utilised, it has been alleged that the autographs displayed in the book had been inked using "autopen" -- a device that can replicate a real signature with a pen without the author having to sign any duplicates.
On Bob's official Twitter account, a previous tweet implied that the folk singer had personally autographed each book.

Each unique copy of the limited autographed edition of Bob Dylan's The Philosophy of Modern Song was personally signed by the author and came with a letter confirming its authenticity from Simon and Schuster, the book's publisher, it said.