The original watercolor illustration for the cover of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stonethe first of the writer’s seven books J.K. Rowling on the saga of the boy wizard, he recorded the most expensive price for an heirloom legato a Harry Potter Never sold at auction.
The illustration accompanied the debut edition of the novel by 1997 and was sold for 1.9 million dollars and Sotheby’s a New Yorkbut not before a four-way bidding war that lasted nearly 10 minutes.
Thomas Taylor was the artist who painted the picture. It depicts Harry Potter on the platform 9¾awaiting his first trip on theHogwarts Express. Taylor completed the painting in just two days, using concentrated watercolors on cold-pressed watercolor paper with black pencil. He was paid $650 for his efforts.
A copy of the first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was the previous record holder, having sold for $421,000 at Heritage Auctions in Dallas in 2021. Taylor’s illustration sold for nearly four times its expected amount, ranging from $400,000 to $600,000. Sotheby’s said it was the “highest pre-sale estimate ever placed on an item of any Harry Potter-related work”.
Translated into 77 languagesincluding Latin and ancient Greek, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone remains one of the most popular literary works of the 20th centurywith global sales of 120 million copies. In Italy it was published by Adriano Salani In the maggio 1998with illustrations by Serena Riglietti and translation of Marina Astrologer.
In 2001, a film adaptation was made, distributed by Warner Bros. and directed by Chris Columbuswhich grossed more than 974 million dollars at the worldwide box office, thus entering the fiftieth place in the ranking of the highest-grossing films in the history of cinema.
Photo: Warner Bros.
Source: Deadline
Read also: Harry Potter, the first director and showrunner of the long-awaited HBO series revealed. The details
Read also: JK Rowling attacks a Harry Potter star for his positions on transgender women
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
