Andrew Davidson
A New Era of Covers
When Bloomsbury sought to reintroduce the Harry Potter series to a fresh generation of readers, they turned to design agency Webb&Webb to break away from the conventional fantasy aesthetics dominating the market. Their mission? To offer something timeless, elegant, and entirely distinct from the glossy photographic covers common to the genre. In this quest, they found their perfect match in Andrew Davidson.
Davidson, an artist and designer with a decades-long career, brought an antiquarian sensibility to the project—one that felt both new and ancient. His covers, hand-engraved and richly textured, were designed to feel as though they had been pulled from a dusty shelf in the Hogwarts library itself.
Tradition in Technique
Davidson’s illustrations were created using a centuries-old method—wood engraving—on small blocks of English boxwood measuring no more than 9 by 7 inches. Once engraved, the images were hand-printed onto delicate Japanese paper.
This laborious and intricate process lent each piece a tactile, timeless quality, blending seamlessly with the atmosphere of the wizarding world. The result was a collection of covers that felt like relics of the magical universe—etched, pressed, and inked with care.
“The perfect effect,” he called it. And it’s easy to see why.
A Vision from the Library
“I wanted them to look as if they had come straight from the pages of a book taken from the library at Hogwarts,” Davidson explained. Every detail of his approach, from medium to subject matter, supported that vision.
These weren’t just new illustrations—they were artifacts, as if Rowling’s world had always existed and Davidson had simply uncovered its long-forgotten chronicles. The engraved linework, the textured paper, the monochromatic palette—all spoke to an era of storytelling far older than our own, and that was precisely the point.
Light to Darkness
Just as the series evolves in tone, so too did Davidson’s imagery. The earlier covers—Philosopher’s Stone, Chamber of Secrets—carry a sense of wonder and discovery, with images like the Hogwarts Express and the towering silhouette of the school.
But as the narrative darkens with the return of Voldemort, Davidson’s engravings follow suit. Later covers evoke menace and mortality—ghouls, serpents, skulls—etched in shadow and line. It’s a visual descent that mirrors the emotional arc of the series.
Through careful composition and tonal contrast, Davidson captured that subtle shift from innocence to danger without a single drop of color.
An Artist’s Reward
As part of his commission, Davidson was permitted to hand-print 20 copies of each wood engraving for his personal use. These limited prints, beautiful in both execution and rarity, were later displayed in exhibitions—small glimpses into a world brought to life through discipline, patience, and old-world craftsmanship.
In an age of speed and digital shortcuts, Davidson’s Harry Potter covers remind us that some kinds of magic are made slowly—with ink-stained hands and engraved precision.