Temple Bailey

{{Short description|American writer}}

{{Infobox writer

| name = Temple Bailey

| image = TempleBailey1915.jpg

| image_size = 200px

| caption =

| pseudonym =

| birth_date = {{birth date|1869|2|24}}

| birth_place = Petersburg, Petersburg City, Virginia, USA

| death_date = {{death date and age|1953|7|6|1869|2|24}}

| death_place = Washington, District of Columbia, District Of Columbia, USA

| occupation = Writer (novelist)

| nationality = American

| period = 20th century

| genre = Romance, fiction

| birth_name = Irene Temple Bailey

}}

Irene Temple Bailey (February 24, 1869 – July 6, 1953) was a popular American novelist and short story writer.Clayton, Marion E. (15 July 1928). [http://fultonhistory.com/Newpapers%20Disk2/Utica%20NY%20Daily%20Observer/Utica%20NY%20Observer%201928%20pdf/Utica%20NY%20Observer%201928%20-%206027.pdf Noted Author Tells About Life, Writing on Visit in Valley], Utica Observer-DispatchAlden, Alice (17 February 1933). [http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2024/Flushing%20NY%20North%20Shore%20%20Daily%20Journal/Flushing%20NY%20North%20Shore%20%20Daily%20Journal%201933/Flushing%20NY%20North%20Shore%20%20Daily%20Journal%201933%2000516.pdf Is Ideal Love Out of Fashion], North Shore Daily Journal (Flushing, New York) (syndicated article)

Beginning around 1902, Temple Bailey was contributing stories to national magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post, Cavalier Magazine, Cosmopolitan, The American Magazine, McClure's, Woman's Home Companion, Good Housekeeping, McCall's and others.{{Needs citation|date=March 2024}}

In 1914, Bailey wrote the screenplay for the Vitagraph Studios film Auntie, and two of her novels were filmed. She also had three of her books on the list of bestselling novels in the United States in 1918, 1922, and 1926 as determined by Publishers Weekly.{{Needs citation|date=March 2024}}

Bailey never married. She died at her apartment in Washington, D.C., on July 6, 1953. Her obituary in the New York Post estimated that her novels had sold three million copies, making her among the best paid writers in the world, and that Cosmopolitan had once given her $325,000 for three serial novels and a group of short stories.(8 July 1953). [http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2024/New%20York%20NY%20Post/New%20York%20NY%20Post%201953/New%20York%20NY%20Post%201953%20a%20-%200743.pdf Temple Bailey, Novelist], New York Post, p. 59.(8 July 1953). [http://fultonhistory.com/Newspapers%2023/Jamestown%20NY%20Post%20Journal/Jamestown%20NY%20Post%20Journal%201953/Jamestown%20NY%20Post%20Journal%201953%20-%203251.pdf Round About Town], Jamestown Post-Journal (mention of her death, notes she was a native of Petersburg, Virginia)