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Bob Dylan|Mondo Scripto 2020

Bob Dylan returned to his handwritten lyrics on 3 November 2020 with 'Mondo Scripto 2020', six hand-signed prints in editions of 495 released by Castle Fine Art. Each pairs a song from 1963 to 1966 with a pencil drawing, and the prints were sold individually or as a deluxe boxed set of six.

All Mondo Scripto 2020 Works By Bob Dylan (8)

Significance & Analysis

The second 'Mondo Scripto' release narrows the project to Dylan's songs of the mid-1960s. Where the 2018 selection reached as far as 'Knockin' On Heaven's Door', written for a 1973 film, all six songs here were released between 1963 and 1966. Their themes, as the release was presented, are absent love, politics and loss.

As in 2018, each original was made by hand, the lyric written out in pen and the drawing made in pencil, and the prints reproduce those sheets. 'Subterranean Homesick Blues' and 'Girl From The North Country' sit alongside 'I Want You', from the 1966 album 'Blonde on Blonde'. For 'I Want You' Dylan set the lyric against a crowded urban scene with a circus feel, reminiscent of Marcel Carné's 1945 film 'Les Enfants du Paradis' ('Children of Paradise').

Before and after

'Mondo Scripto 2018' launched the idea with ten songs, a 16-part 'Knockin' On Heaven's Door' portfolio and an exhibition of the originals in London. The 2020 release kept the same paper and framed size but cut the selection from ten songs to six and held it to a four-year span. Within a month of its launch the 2020 prints were on show with his other editions at Halcyon Gallery in London, in an exhibition that opened on 1 December 2020.

How Big Is a Mondo Scripto 2020 Print, Framed and Unframed?

Each print is on a sheet of 73 x 44 cm, with an image of 61 x 32 cm, on 300gsm Somerset paper. Framed, a print measures 102.9 x 74.9 cm. The paper and framed size are the same as for the 2018 prints.

How Was the Mondo Scripto 2020 Boxed Set Sold?

The deluxe boxed set holds all six prints: 'Don't Think Twice, It's All Right', 'Girl From The North Country', 'I Want You', 'It Ain't Me Babe', 'Just Like A Woman' and 'Subterranean Homesick Blues'. It was offered framed or unframed. The framed boxed set is an edition of 495 with 65 artist's proofs.

Which Songs Belong to 2020 and Which to 2018?

No song appears in both releases, so the title places a print in its year. The 2020 prints are the six songs of the boxed set. The 2018 single prints are ten different songs, among them 'Blowin' In The Wind', 'Like A Rolling Stone' and 'Knockin' On Heaven's Door'. Both releases share the 495 edition size, the paper and the framed size, so the song is the quickest check.