On June 26, auction house Sotheby's held a sale in a New York library. Among works by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Charles Dickens and many others, several lots from the Harry Potter saga were on offer. And the magic happened with an original illustration of the cover of the first volume of this saga: Harry Potter and the philosopher's stone or Harry Potter at wizard school for French readers.
A record Harry Potter auction
At a previous auction at Sotheby's London in 2001, this illustration fetched around 100,000 euros. Following its success, the estimate for 2024 was between 400 and 600,000 euros, well below the record bid of 1.8 million euros.
The original 401 x 282 mm pencil and watercolor illustration by Thomas Taylor dates from 1997. This young artist, just as unknown as J.K. Rowling at the time, was approached by British publisher Barry Cunningham to illustrate the cover of the first volume of the Little Wizard saga.
A young boy, round glasses, a scar and a locomotive
And so the first visual representation of Harry Potter's wizarding world took shape: a small, slightly sickly boy with round spectacles on the tip of his nose, a z-shaped scar on his forehead and a scarf around his neck, who looks a little lost in front of a red locomotive that has appeared out of nowhere on a station platform bearing a strange number.
This platform will become an iconic part of the saga, the famous secret platform at London's King's Cross station, located between Platform 9 and Platform 10, invisible to "muggles" " accessible through a magic wall.
Equally iconic is the red locomotive that links London to the wizarding school in the sequel to the saga. Christened Hogwarts by J. K. Rowling, meaning "Pork Warts " the school and train were renamed Hogwarts by the saga's French translator, Jean-François Ménard, as the "pou de lard" pun was deemed more comprehensible to French readers.
Thomas Taylor had brought Harry Potter to life, but the cover for this first volume was his one and only. Given the success of the saga, the British publisher subsequently entrusted the visuals for the other volumes to Cliff Wright, Giles Greenfield and Jason Cockcraft.
