The world of Harry Potter continues to make people talk, but this time not because of the transphobic statements of JK Rowling. On this occasion, it was learned that The original watercolor with the illustration of the first book of the saga will be auctionedwhich was key to defining the image of the young magician, and is expected to raise a million-dollar sum.
It is precisely the art made by Thomas Taylor for the book Harry potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, who was only 23 years old in 1997 when this successful piece came to light. It should be noted that the young man was the first to read the manuscript of the then unknown British author. Now, this painting will go on sale next Wednesday at the house Sotheby’s.
27 years ago, Taylorwho worked in a children’s bookstore in Cambridge (United Kingdom), was commissioned to make the illustrations for the aforementioned work commissioned by editor Barry Cunningham, from the small Bloomsbury publishing house. The rest, as is already known, was history: his painting became lcover of the first of the seven volumes of this saga translated into 80 languages and of which they have been sold 500 million copies.
“It is the first visualization or visual representation of the magical world of Harry Potter, with his round glasses, his lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead and his colorful scarf, boarding the train to Hogwarts,” said the Sotheby’s antique books specialist. Kalika Sands, employee in the manuscript department.
At that time, both author and illustrator were complete strangers and no one could have imagined the success of this work, of which initially only 500 copies were printed, most of them distributed in libraries. Word of mouth created her legend.
One of those first copies appears with Taylor’s illustration – a little less detailed – on the cover of the book, the only one in which he participated.
“An iconic image”
“It is exciting to see the painting that marked the beginning of my career, decades later and as brilliant as ever! It transports me to the experience of reading Harry Potter for the first time (…) and the process of creating what is now an iconic image,” says Taylor, quoted in a Sotheby’s statement.
Now, the estimated price of the illustration, which goes on sale June 26 along with works by Arthur Conan Doyle, Charles Dickens, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Edgar Allan Poe, from the collection The Library of Dr. Rodney F. Swantko , It is between 400,000 and 600,000 dollars, the highest for a job related to the young sorcerer’s apprentice.
At an auction in 2001, Taylor’s illustration sold for 85,750 pounds (about $108,370 at current exchange rates), when four volumes of the saga had been published, which also became a successful film.
In 2023, to commemorate 25 years since the series began, Taylor’s original cover appeared on the reissue of “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.”
The auction house is also offering Rowling’s manuscript of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, a book of fairy tales written in 2007, estimated at between $250,000 and $350,000, which has a dedication to Barry Cunningham. It was one of seven manuscripts that the author made to give to people closely related to Harry Potter.
