Contradictory release dates have been claimed for "John Wesley Harding". The liner notes to the Dylan mono box states December 17, 1967 as the original date of release. Reproduced in the liner notes to of the Dylan Bootleg Series is an article by Al Aronowitz for "The New York Times", date stamped December 23, 1967, in which he states that "John Wesley Harding" would be released "within the next two weeks". In a November 2014 article for CounterPunch on-line, musician Peter Stone Brown claims from personal recollection a date of January 2, 1968. Original CD editions from the 1980s and 1990s have the copyright year of 1968. The January 20 issue of "Billboard" reported on the "blockbuster response" to the LP, saying: "In stores less than a week, the record is reported to have sold more than 250,000 copies."