Unpublished photos launch of Half-Blood Prince

In early May 2025, I met freelance photographer Douglas Robertson in a café in Edinburgh, where he handed me his personal signed copy of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, along with an original letter and a series of never-before-published photographs he took during one of the most magical events in the history of the Harry Potter series.

Douglas has spent much of his professional life capturing J.K. Rowling through his lens. Commissioned by the University of Edinburgh, the Edinburgh International Book Festival, and others, he has photographed the author on several memorable occasions — but none as iconic as the night of 16 July 2005, the official launch of The Half-Blood Prince at Edinburgh Castle.

While dozens of photographers, TV crews and journalists gathered on the castle esplanade hoping to glimpse Rowling holding the newly released book aloft, Douglas was the only photographer granted access beyond the gates. He followed her up the winding cobbled path into the castle, past fire-breathers, living statues, jugglers and a performer atop a life-sized mechanical horse.

Inside the Great Hall, hundreds of candles illuminated long banquet tables in true Hogwarts fashion. In the centre of the room stood a single mahogany and leather chair. Precisely at midnight, Rowling appeared to great applause and read aloud from the newly released book. At that moment, The Half-Blood Prince was officially launched worldwide.

On Sunday, a select group of young readers — the “cub reporters” — returned to the castle for a private Q&A session with J.K. Rowling. Douglas was once again there as the only photographer, capturing intimate moments between the children and the author in the enchanted setting of the Great Hall.

Before leaving, he was presented with a J.K. Rowling signed copy of the book by a representative from Bloomsbury.

Douglas Robertson's signed copy of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, along with Douglas’s letter and the unpublished photographs preserves a fleeting but extraordinary moment when fiction and reality briefly merged. Not just a collector’s item, but a living piece of Harry Potter history.