![](data:image/svg+xml;utf8,<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" version="1.1" height="1711px" width="2400px"></svg>)
The Art of Book Illustration
While illustrated books are generally quite valuable, the original one-of-one drawings can be hot commodities on the books and prints market.
A rare book with all its illustrations intact can be quite valuable. In some cases, the original art can be worth even more.
Most readers can conjure the image printed on the first version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone from memory. The bespectacled boy wearing a red-and-yellow-striped scarf standing in front of a train has been reproduced many times since the book was first printed in 1997. “It’s an iconic image,” says Specialist Will Passey of Sotheby’s Books and Manuscripts Department. A first edition of the book in exquisite condition sold at auction for $216,000 in 2024. But the original artwork used to make the cover design sold for over $1.9 million.
Although Lewis Carrol’s Alice in Wonderland was published in 1856 with illustrations by Sir John Tenniel, it went out of copyright in 1907, inspiring a new generation of artists to try their hand at the classic text. One of these was illustrator Arthur Rackham. Rackham worked during the era known as the Golden Age of Illustration, when book design became more creative, according to Passey. “They were able to produce color plates in ways that couldn’t have been produced before.” Rackham’s version of the book was both more delicate and more grotesque than the Tenniel original. An original Rackham illustration used to make bookplates sold in 2021 for over £69,000.
Similarly, an original illustration by author Beatrix Potter can be worth more than a rare copy of one of her books. Although the author is known for her stories, the drawings are what have stuck in people’s minds – rabbits in smart blue jackets or a goose in a beautiful bonnet. A rare first edition of The Tale of Peter Rabbit sold for over £32,000 in 2022, but a single watercolor image sold in 2008 for over £121,000.
Passey points out that while book collecting is a slightly specialized interest, many of these illustrations appeal to people who are new bibliophiles. “There’s crossover with other collecting categories,” Passey explains, which can heighten price and interest.
“It’s interesting to see how a 500-year-old book can be a precursor to today’s interactive reading experiences.”
- Will Passey, Specialist, Books and Manuscripts
That said, the artwork doesn’t have to be taken out of the book or be an original illustration to be valuable.
Some famous architectural books were made with moving parts, Passey says. “There’s a drama to picking these books up and turning the flaps, and it’s interesting to see how a 500-year-old book can be a precursor to today’s interactive reading experiences.” In 1556, Vitruvius published a book in which the diagrams of amphitheaters moved. Albrecht Dürer’s 1528 book on perspective featured fold-out drawings.
Sometimes the story of the artwork can take on a life of its own. In 1935, Henri Matisse was commissioned to illustrate a special edition of James Joyce’s Ulysses. Unfortunately, the painter neglected to read the actual book, and assumed it was based on Homer’s ancient Greek epic. The edition was supposed to be signed by Joyce and Matisse, but when Joyce realized the illustrations were for the wrong book, he stopped signing them, explained Selby Kiffer, International Senior Specialist in Books and Manuscripts. “The early ones signed by Joyce are eight to ten times more valuable than later, unsigned editions,” he says. The mix-up certainly makes for a good story.
