An archive of documents relating to Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire has sold for $406,000.

It includes a wealth of revisions to dialogue and scenes within the play, notes addressed to the producer and director, and a letter regarding the screenplay adaptation.

Tennessee Williams was a pioneering American playwright

The play was a huge hit on its release in 1947 and proved enormously influential. The popular film, which came out in 1951, made Marlon Brando into a star.

Sotheby's explains: "The present archive contains material from scenes 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, and most importantly the 89-page working manuscript and typescript of scene 11, the astonishing final scene of the play.

"These drafts allow us observe Williams reworking dialogue and stage directions…

"The most famous line in the play, 'Whoever you are—I have always depended on the kindness of strangers,' was first written as 'Whoever you are—I place myself at your mercy!'"

American poet Walt Whitman's annotated copy of the complete works of Robert Burns realised $75,000 - up 7.1% on a $70,000 estimate.

Whitman was a great admirer of Burns and published an essay, titled Robert Burns as Poet and Person, for an 1886 edition of the North American Review.

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