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Harry Potter and the £8,500 sketch
Updated 11:07am on 30 Nov 2006For devotees of Harry Potter, it is the equivalent of an old master coming on the market.
A previously unseen sketch for the cover of JK Rowling's book Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban is going on sale today.
Illustrator Cliff Wright, who also designed the cover for Harry Potter And The Chamber of Secrets, the previous book in the series, is selling the sketch for £8,500 at the inaugural Great Art Fair, at Alexandra Palace until Sunday.
Art experts estimate the buyer will be able to sell the 1999 sketch on for a five-figure sum.
The sketch shows Harry and his friend Hermione Granger on a hippogriff, a cross between a horse, lion and eagle. Mr Wright said: "In some ways I prefer the sketch to what ended up on the cover. It's more dynamic: in the final version, the hippogriff is not moving quite so fast. JK Rowling herself faxed over an image of what she thought the hippogriff should look like."
The fair, the UK's largest art show, will feature more than 350 exhibitors.
