NEW YORK, NY.- Swann Galleries’ third iteration of Focus on Women, an auction dedicated to the contributions of women to art, life, and society, brought $361,090, a total more than the presale estimate for the auction, with archives and literature among the leading items of the sale.

The sale was led by a family archive of photographs and letters of Charlotte Perkins Gilman, which included 45 photos of Gilman and a typed draft of the comedic play, A Pretty Idiot written by Gilman and Grace Ellery Channing among other items. The lot brought $60,000. Also related to Gilman was a family association set of The Forerunner, a complete run of seven volumes published from 1909 to 1916, which earned $22,500.

Further archives of note included those once belonging to Fanny Stevenson, which documented her travels in the American West and Vailima in Samoa ($25,000); artist Mary Beth Edelson with an archive of working files and correspondence ($7,000); and travel diaries and photo albums from Loretta Belle Tulian Eaton ($5,250).

Top-selling literature included a first edition of Sojourner Truth’s Narrative of Sojourner Truth, a Northern Slave, Boston, 1850 ($20,000); Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, London, 1817 ($13,750); a first edition of Compendio de la Vida, y virtudes de la venerable Catharina de San Juan, Puebla, Mexico, 1692, which tells the story of Catarina de San Juan ($11,250); and a first trade edition of Helena Bochoráková-Dittrichová’s Z Mého Detství Drevoryt, Prague, 1929, the first graphic novel ever published by a woman ($7,500). Religious text was on offer with Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s The Woman’s Bible, New York, 1898, signed and inscribed by Stanton ($13,750), and the Bible translated by Julia Evelina Smith into English, Smith was the first woman to accomplish this feat ($4,750). Also of note was Louisa May Alcott’s autograph script for a performance of Mrs. Jarleys Waxworks, dated circa 1867 to 1879 ($4,750).

Additional highlights included works by Cindy Sherman and Flor Garduño, ephemera related to Seneca Falls, Ohio Womens Rights Conventions, and the women's suffrage movement, and a hotel register related to Female Base Ball players.

Top lots: Prices with buyer’s premium

·136 Charlotte Perkins Gilman, family archive of photographs and letters, $60,000

·45 Fanny Stevenson, archive of photographs and letters, circa 1866-1904, $25,000

·137 Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Forerunner, complete run of seven volumes, family association set with four volumes signed or inscribed by Gilman, New York, 1909-1916, $22,500

·123 Sojourner Truth, Narrative of Sojourner Truth, a Northern Slave, first edition, Boston, 1850, $20,000

·3 Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, London, 1817, $13,750

·142 Elizabeth Cady Stanton, The Woman’s Bible, signed and inscribed by Stanton, New York, 1898, $13,750

·94 Catrina de San Juan, José del Castillo Grajeda, Compendio de la Vida, y virtudes de la venerable Catharina de San Juan, first edition, Pueblo, Mexico, 1692, $11,250

·114 Female Provenance: Frances Wolfreston, Lodowic Carlell, The Deserving Favorite. As it was lately Acted, first before the Kings Majestie, and since publikely at the Black-Friers, first edition, London, 1629, $11,250

·186 Cindy Sherman, Secretary, silver print, 1978, printed 1993, $10,000

·132 Angelina Emily Grimké, Letters to Catherine E. Beecher in Reply to an Essay on Slavery and Abolitionism, first edition, Boston, 1838, $8,750

·65 Helena Bochoráková-Dittrichová, Z Mého Detství Drevoryty, first trade edition, Prague, 1929, $7,500

·70 Mary Beth Edelson, artist’s archive of working files and correspondence, $7,000

·162 Myrlande Constant, Bousou, Drapo Vodou, Haitian Vodou banner, $5,500

·173 Loretta Belle Tulian Eaton, archive of photo albums and travel diaries, 1905-1920s, $5,250

·140 Seneca Falls & Ohio Women’s Rights Conventions, three contemporary newspaper reports, 1848-50, $5,000

·19 Georgia Douglas Johnson, The Heart of a Woman and Other Poems, first edition, Boston, 1918, $5,000

·8 Bible, English, translated by Julia Evelina Smith, Hartford, CT, 1876, $4,750

·31 Louisa May Alcott, autograph script for a performance of Mrs. Jarley’s Waxworks, circa 1867-79, $4,750

·158 Elizabeth Blackwell, The Laws of Life with Special Reference to the Physical Education of Girls, first edition, New York, 1852, $4,750

·35 Amelia Earhart, The Fun of It, first edition, signed and inscribed, New York, 1932, $4,500