Harry Potter Watercolour For First Book Up For Auction
- Editor OGN Daily
- May 3, 2024
- 1 min read
The illustration featured on the covers of the debut edition of Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone in 1997.
The illustration, by British author and illustrator Thomas Taylor, was his first professional commission at the age of 23. He was asked to illustrate the character by Bloomsbury, the book's publishing house.
Taylor was therefore one of the first to read JK Rowling's manuscript and it took him two days to complete the depiction of the budding wizard - with his dark hair, round glasses, and lightning bolt scar, on his way to Hogwarts. Taylor used concentrated watercolours on cold-pressed watercolour paper, outlined with black Karisma pencil, to create what he described as now "an iconic image".
The illustration was first offered at auction in 2001 at Sotheby's London, when only the first four books in the series were published, and was estimated at up to £25,000 ($31,000) before ultimately going under the hammer for £85,750 $105,000).
It's now up for sale again on 26 June as part of a sale of other literature at Sotheby's in New York. Sotheby's said it is auctioning the work with an estimate of $400,000 to $600,000 - the "highest pre-sale estimate ever placed on an item of any Harry Potter-related work".