Reproduced on the cover of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stonethe watercolor by British artist Thomas Taylor has become cult, especially since it remains the first representation of a now iconic character.
In New York, on June 26, the Sotheby’s auction house sold it for €1.8 million, thus making “ the property linked to Harry Potter most expensively sold at auction “. Usually, works from the first printing of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone rather panic the counters, due to their rarity, but never exceed a million. In 2021, one of them went for €470,000.
According to the PA agency, four people interested in this watercolor competed for almost 10 minutes, raising the stakes at an unexpected rate.
In 2001, the work had already gone under the hammer, but the enthusiasm was not comparable: it had been bought at the time for £85,750, or €100,000 today…
The record established by the lot will perhaps quickly be beaten: this June 28, Sotheby’s New York will once again excite desire around an original manuscript of the Tales of Beedle the Bard by JK Rowling, published in 2008. Estimated between €230,000 and €325,000, it is presented in a special binding, made in Edinburgh, and bears the author’s dedication to Barry Cunningham, Rowling’s publisher at Bloomsbury: “ To Barry, the man who thought a slightly too long novel about a bespectacled boy magician might sell… THANK YOU.»
Two days of work
The watercolor on the coverHarry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stoneis the work of the British Thomas Taylor. When he received the order for the cover of the book to be published by Bloomsbury, Taylor was a bookseller within the brand.Heffer’s Children’s Bookshop, in Cambridge. An aspiring illustrator, he landed this contract, and produced his best-known work to date. The covers of the other volumes will be signed by Cliff Wright, Giles Greenfield and Jason Cockcroft.
READ – An ancient book, dated 1700 years old, sold for €3.5 million
Taylor created the illustration in just two days, after reading Rowling’s manuscript, which he was ultimately one of the first in the world to discover. His drawing met with some success, since it was chosen by numerous publishing houses, during the multiple translations of the story.
« It makes me happy to see this painting, which marked the very beginning of my career, decades later, so well preserved», underlined Thomas Taylor, who has since signed several works, shortly before the auction. “It reminds me of the experience of reading Harry Potter — I was one of the first — and the creative process behind this image that became famous. »
Photograph: detail of the watercolor by Thomas Taylor (Sotheby’s New York)
