First Harry Potter Cover Illustration Sells for Record-Breaking $1.9 Million

The cover art for the first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone shattered all expectations, selling for $1.9 million against a projected $400,000 to $600, 000.

The watercolor illustration, created by Thomas Taylor in 1997, was "the most valuable Harry Potter item ever sold at auction," said Sotheby's. Sold in New York last June 26, it far surpassed the previous record, held by a first edition copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone which sold for $471,000 in Dallas in 2021.

Taylor and JK Rowling were both unknown back in 1996, when Bloomsbury accepted Rowling's book for publication. At the time, Taylor was a 23-year-old fresh graduate. After leaving some sketches of dragons at the Bloomsbury offices, he was contacted by the publisher a week later, and asked if he would be interested in illustrating the cover of a book by an unknown author.

Armed with a printout of the manuscript, concentrated watercolours, cold-pressed watercolour paper, and a black Karisma pencil for outlining, Taylor depicted the dark-haired boy with round glasses and a lightning-shaped scar awaiting the Hogwarts Express. More details are visible on the illustration than what made it on the cover: close to the edge on the right is the sign for platform ten, at the bottom corners are the stars produced by the Hogwarts Express, and much of the top is occupied by a cloud of steam.

The illustration first went under the gavel in 2001. By then, only four books in the series had been published, and Taylor's work sold for $108,280. It has since grown in value by 1,650%.

The cover for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was the only one in the series that Taylor illustrated. When Rowling's books became more popular, Bloomsbury turned to Cliff Wright. Taylor has since continued his illustrating career, and also wrote his own children's series, the Eerie-On-Sea Mysteries.