NEW YORK (Reuters) - A collection of poems written by legendary rock poet Bob Dylan as a student at the University of Minnesota in 1960 sold for $78,000 on Monday in a Rock & Pop Memorabilia auction at Christie's.

The 16 pages of poems hand-written in pencil formed the earliest Dylan manuscript ever offered for auction and it fetched the highest auction price to date for the acclaimed songwriter, according to Christie's.

A title page was inscribed in blue ink "Poems Without Titles," with the majority of the poems signed Dylan or Dylanism.

The poetry was acquired by an unidentified private European interest.