First Sale Dedicated to the Accomplishments of Women at Swann Exceeds High Estimate
Early Printed Book, Archives, Vernacular and Fine Art Photography, Among other Material, Draws Interest Among Collectors
The house’s inaugural Focus on Women sale on Thursday, July 15, 2021 brought $333,893 with 78% of the lots finding buyers. “The experience of gathering, valuing, and cataloguing material for Focus on Women surprised me. Something about the process of getting it all together and looking at books, art, manuscripts, and ephemera through this lens changed the material itself in my eyes,” noted Devon Eastland, senior specialist for early printed books and curator of the sale.
An example of this process of discovery was Sarah Farro’s True Love, a Story of English Domestic Life, Chicago, 1891, which sold for $8,750. “The work was a completely unknown quantity. It was basically unearthed as the work of a Black woman by a scholar and is nonexistent on the rare book market. It’s even rare in libraries. Without any comparable auction or retail results to rely on, my only approach was to go in with a reasonable estimate and an excellent description, and let the potential bidders determine the outcome,” Eastland recalled.
“The experience of gathering, valuing, and cataloguing material for Focus on Women surprised me. Something about the process of getting it all together and looking at books, art, manuscripts, and ephemera through this lens changed the material itself in my eyes.”
Devon Eastland, Senior Specialist, Early Printed Books
Cataloguing the material from the women who worked at the Harvard Observatory was also eye-opening for Eastland: “The surface information about the women who worked at the Harvard Observatory was packaged and presented with men’s names.” The observatory had been funded by the Henry Draper Memorial, and the women worked at Harvard under male supervisors, but it was Mary Anna Draper who set up the memorial after her husband’s death, Anna Winlock who made sense of her father’s otherwise meaningless collection of data after his death, and Williamina Fleming who was the head of the Henry Draper Catalogue. “Pulling these names from beneath the pile was incredibly rewarding,” Eastland continued about the revelation. The lot brought $688.
Among other discoveries was physiologist and nutritionist Mary Morris Calyton’s photo album, which was attributed to Clayton through Eastland’s cataloguing. “When the collection of 400 photographs reached me, it was simply an object of curiosity created by an unknown person, linking the person to these photos documenting her life was fulfilling.” The photo album earned $780.
Top Lots & More
Highlights included an early printed work of poet Juana Inés de la Cruz’s Fama, y Obras Posthumas del Fenix de Mexico, Decima Musa, Poetisa Americana, Madrid, 1700. The first edition of the third part of Sor Juana’s works brought $81,250. Lucienne Bloch’s 1933 photograph of Frida Kahlo situated before the central panel of Diego Rivera’s mural Proletarian Unity garnered significant interest from bidders delivering $6,250. An exhibition binding of A.F. Pollard’s Henry VIII, London 1902, created by the Guild of Women Binders delivered $12,350—the guild was established in 1898 to provide women avenues to learn the craft and market their work. An archive of letters belonging to Jane Russell was among the top results from the sale. The letters, which give insight into different whaling voyages departing from Hawaii and other ports in the 1840s, earned $30,000.
“This is minor but meaningful to me. When bidders submit their phone and absentee bidding requests, we have a simple form at Swann where we record the client’s contact information, and then list the lot numbers, followed by a short identifier, followed by the bids. The simple act of listing these bids, and writing a woman’s name after each lot number was amazing, a first for me,” concluded Eastland of the sale. Swann looks forward to holding the next sale dedicated to women and their accomplishments in 2022.