NEW YORK: A collection of poems written by Minnesota college student Robert Zimmerman —

later to become the “voice of a generation” as Bob Dylan — sold for $78,000 at an auction of rock and pop memorabilia.

Titled Poems Without Titles, and written in 1960, the 16-page hand-scrawled collection features the aspiring poet trying out his soon-to-be pseudonym. Most of the poems are signed Dylan or Dylanism, the earliest known use of his nom-de-tune, according to Christie’s auction house. The rare cache of Dylan poems were bought by an anonymous European collector, a spokeswoman said. Nearly 200 items were on the auction block, featuring some of rock ‘n’ roll’s greatest stars, including the Beatles, Bruce Springsteen and The Who.

The Dylan poetry shows flashes of the wit and style that eventually made him one of the 20th century’s most indelible songwriters, although nothing approaches classics such as Blowin’ in the Wind or Like a Rolling Stone. “I search the depths of my soul for an answer/ But there is no answer,” he writes in one poem. “Because there is no question/ And there is no time.”

Another poem lists ex-girlfriends named Seela, Ione, Carol and Barbara. The ex who made the most lasting impression was Judy: “But she broke me/ Up when she didn’t/ Write back and/ I died for a year.”