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{{Short description|American writer (1855–1921)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2014}}
{{Infobox writer
| embed =
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Edgar Saltus
| honorific_suffix =
| image = Edgar Saltus.jpg
| image_size =
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| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| pen_name =
| birth_name = Edgar Evertson Saltus
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1855|10|8}}
| birth_place = [[New York City]], U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1921|7|31|1855|10|8}}
| death_place = New York City, U.S.
| resting_place = [[Sleepy Hollow Cemetery]]
| occupation = {{flatlist|
* Biographer
* essayist
* historian
* novelist
* poet
}}
| language =
| residence =
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| education = {{Plainlist|
* [[Yale University]]
* [[Columbia Law School]]
}}
| home_town =
| period = 1884–1921
| genre = 
| subject = 
| movement = [[Decadent movement]]
| notable_works =
| spouse = {{Plainlist|
* {{marriage|Helen Sturgis Read|1883|1891|end=divorced}}
* {{marriage|Elsie Welch Smith|1895|1911|end=died}}
* {{marriage|Marie Flores Giles|1911}}
}}
| partner = 
| children =
| relatives = [[Francis Saltus Saltus]] (half-brother)
| awards =
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}}

'''Edgar Evertson Saltus''' (October 8, 1855 – July 31, 1921) was an American writer known for his highly refined prose style. His works paralleled those by European [[Decadent movement|decadent]] authors such as [[Joris-Karl Huysmans]], [[Gabriele D'Annunzio]] and [[Oscar Wilde]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}}

Under the pseudonym '''Myndart Verelst''', Saltus translated works by [[Honoré de Balzac|Balzac]],<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Balzac |first1=Honoré de |url=http://archive.org/details/afterdinnerstori00balzrich |title=After-dinner stories from Balzac |last2=Verelst |first2=Myndart |last3=Saltus |first3=Edgar |date=1886 |publisher=New York, George J. Coombes |others=University of California Libraries}}</ref> [[Théophile Gautier]], and [[Prosper Mérimée]];<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Mérimée |first1=Prosper |url=http://archive.org/details/talesbeforesuppe00mriala |title=Tales before supper, from Théophile Gautier and Prosper Mérimée; |last2=Verelst |first2=Myndart |last3=Saltus |first3=Edgar Evertson |date=1887 |publisher=New York, Chicago : Brentano's |others=University of California Libraries}}</ref> he also wrote using the name '''Archibald Wilberforce'''.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/bibliographyofam0007unse/page/n9/mode/2up?view=theater |title=Bibliography of American Literature, Vol. 7 |publisher=Yale University Press |year=1983 |editor-last=Blanck |editor-first=Jacob |location=New Haven & London |pages=326–337, 685}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780787652036/mode/2up?view=theater |title=Contemporary Authors, Vol. 210 |publisher=The Gale Group |year=2003 |isbn=0787652032 |editor-last=Peacock |editor-first=Scot |pages=362–3}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Edgar Saltus was born in New York City on October 8, 1855, to Francis Henry Saltus and his second wife, Eliza Evertson,<ref>{{Cite news|last=Vrooman, Jr.|first=Isaac H.|date=1909-03-20|title=New York Times Saturday Review of Books|work=New York Times|location=New York City|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1909/03/20/101034702.pdf|access-date=2020-05-24}}</ref> both of Dutch descent.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Saltus, Edgar Evertson (1855-1921), writer|url=https://www.anb.org/view/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.001.0001/anb-9780198606697-e-1601433|last=Keene|first=Ann T.|website=American National Biography|year=2000|language=en|doi=10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1601433|isbn=978-0-19-860669-7|access-date=2020-05-24}}</ref> He attended [[St. Paul's School (New Hampshire)|St. Paul's]] in [[Concord, New Hampshire]]. After two semesters at [[Yale University]], Saltus entered [[Columbia Law School]] in 1878,<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Weir|first=David|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WyKcHJCGeiYC|title=Decadent Culture in the United States|publisher=SUNY Press|year=2008|isbn=978-0-7914-7917-9|location=Albany, New York|language=en}}</ref>{{Rp|206–207}} graduating with a law degree in 1880.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Person Detail: Edgar Evertson Saltus|url=http://www.nyslittree.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/DB.PersonDetail/PersonPK/1637.cfm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110104130256/http://www.nyslittree.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/DB.PersonDetail/PersonPK/1637.cfm|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 4, 2011|website=The NYSCA Literary Map of New York State and The NYSCA Literary Tree|access-date=2020-05-24}}</ref>

==Career==
He wrote two books on philosophy: ''The Philosophy of Disenchantment'' (1885) focused on [[philosophical pessimism]] and in particular the philosophy of [[Arthur Schopenhauer|Schopenhauer]] and [[Eduard von Hartmann]],<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|26–30}} while ''The Anatomy of Negation'' (1886) tried "to convey a tableau of anti-theism from [[Kapila]] to [[Leconte de Lisle]]".<ref>''The Anatomy of Negation'', p. 10, cited in Weir, ''Decadent Culture'', pp. 32–33</ref>

After a conversion experience, the once anti-theist and pessimist credited [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]] with having transformed his views. In an 1896 ''[[Collier's]]'' column, he wrote, "I began to see, and what to me was even more marvelous, I began to think."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Ljungquist|first=Kent|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QaARAQAAMAAJ|title=Nineteenth-century American Fiction Writers|publisher=Gale Research|year=1999|isbn=978-0-7876-3096-6|location=Farmington Hills, Michigan|pages=215|language=en}}</ref> In time, he became a member of the [[Theosophical Society]],<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Saltus|first=Marie|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37398|title=Edgar Saltus: The Man|publisher=Pascal Covici|year=1925|location=Chicago|language=en}}</ref>{{Rp|180–182}} an organization that studied, synthesized and experimented with the more esoteric concepts and practices of world religions.

==Personal life==
Saltus was married three times. He married his first wife, Helen Sturgis Read, in 1883 (divorced, 1891). At the church in the [[Embassy of the United Kingdom, Paris|English Embassy]] in [[Paris]], he married in 1895 Elsie Welch Smith (separated, 1901; died, 1911). Saltus married his third wife, author Marie Flores Giles, in 1911.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Leary|first=Lewis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ND9dDwAAQBAJ|title=American Literature to 1900|publisher=Macmillan International Higher Education|year=1980|isbn=978-1-349-16418-9|pages=266|language=en}}</ref> Saltus had a three-year love affair in the 1890s with heiress [[Aimée Crocker]], confirmed in her memoir ''And I'd Do It Again'' (1936).<ref>{{Cite book|last=Crocker|first=Aimée|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KywaAAAAYAAJ|title=And I'd Do It Again|publisher=Coward-McCann|year=1936|pages=288|language=en}}</ref>

Saltus and his first wife appeared in the 1887 first edition of the New York, ''[[Social Register]]''.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c3304368|title=Social Register: 1887|series=New York social register |publisher=Social Register Association|year=1986|isbn=0-940281-00-7|location=New York, NY|pages=102}}</ref>

His elder half-brother [[Francis Saltus Saltus]] was a minor poet. Both brothers are buried in [[Sleepy Hollow Cemetery]] in [[Sleepy Hollow, New York]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Famous Interments|url=https://sleepyhollowcemetery.org/about/famous-interments/|website=Sleepy Hollow Cemetery|access-date=2020-05-25}}</ref>

==Legacy==
Acclaimed by fellow writers in his day, Saltus fell into obscurity after his death.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=McKitrick|first=Eric|date=1951|title=Edgar Saltus of the Obsolete|journal=American Quarterly|volume=3|issue=1|pages=22–35|doi=10.2307/3031184|jstor=3031184|issn=0003-0678}}</ref>

His novel ''The Paliser Case'' was [[The Paliser Case|adapted to film in 1920]],<ref>{{Cite book|last=Wlaschin|first=Ken|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U5UZDgAAQBAJ|title=Silent Mystery and Detective Movies: A Comprehensive Filmography|publisher=McFarland|year=2009|isbn=978-0-7864-4350-5|location=Jefferson, North Carolina|pages=171|language=en}}</ref> and his novel ''Daughters of the Rich'' was [[Daughters of the Rich|filmed in 1923]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Munden|first=Kenneth White|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rlLbRAPOgP0C|title=The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States|publisher=University of California Press|year=1997|isbn=978-0-520-20969-5|location=Berkeley, California|pages=173|language=en}}</ref>

''Edgar Saltus: The Man'', a biography by Marie Saltus, Edgar's third wife, was published in 1925.<ref name=":1" /> ''Edgar Saltus'', a critical study by Claire Sprague, appeared in 1968.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last=Sprague|first=Claire|url=https://archive.org/details/edgarsaltus0000spra|url-access=registration|title=Edgar Saltus|series=Twayne's United States Authors Series|publisher=Twayne Publishers|year=1968|isbn=978-0-8057-0644-4|language=en|issn=0496-6015}}</ref>

The writer and photographer [[Carl Van Vechten]], was instrumental in convincing Saltus's daughter, Elsie Saltus Munds, to donate to Yale what is now known as the Edgar Saltus Papers, consisting of thirty-eight first editions, two of them inscribed, and eighteen letters written in 1918.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Collection: Edgar Saltus papers|url=https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/11/resources/1580|website=Archives at Yale|access-date=2020-05-24}}</ref>

A descendant through his wife Elsie, French-born [[James de Beaujeu Domville]], was a major theatrical producer and Canadian cultural commissioner focused on the film industry.

==Works==
{{wikisource|works=or}}

===Essays, history, and philosophy===
*''Balzac''. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin. 1884.
*''The Philosophy of Disenchantment''. New York: Belford, 1885.
*''The Anatomy of Negation''. London: Williams and Norgate, 1886.
*''Love and Lore''. New York: Belford, 1890.
*''Imperial Purple''. Chicago: Morrill, Higgins, 1892.
*''The Pomps of Satan''. London: Greening, 1904.
*''Historia Amoris''. New York: Mitchell Kennerley, 1906.
*''The Lords of the Ghostland''. New York: Mitchell Kennerley, 1907
*''Oscar Wilde: An Idler’s Impression''. Chicago: Brothers of the Book, 1917.
*''The Imperial Orgy''. New York: Boni and Liveright, 1920.
*''The Gardens of Aphrodite''. Philadelphia: Pennell Club, 1920.
*''Parnassians Personally Encountered''. Cedar Rapids: Torch Press, 1923.
*''The Uplands of Dream''. Chicago: Pascal Covici, 1925 (Compilation of sixteen essays published in magazines between 1900 and 1914).
*''Victor Hugo and Golgotha''. Chicago: Pascal Covici, 1925.
*''The Philosophical Writings of Edgar Saltus: The Philosophy of Disenchantment & The Anatomy of Negation'' (2014) {{ISBN|9780988553644}}

===Fiction===
*''Mr. Incoul’s Misadventure''. New York: Benjamin and Bell, 1887.
*''The Truth About Tristrem Varick''. Chicago: Belford, Clarke, 1888.
*''Eden''. Chicago: Belford, Clark, 1888.
*''A Transaction in Hearts''. New York: Belford, Clarke, 1889.
*''A Transient Guest and Other Episodes''. New York: Belford, Clarke, 1889.
*''The Pace That Kills''. Chicago: Belford, Clarke, 1889.
*''Mary Magdalen''. New York: Belford, 1891.
*''The Facts In The Curious Case of Hugh Hyrtl, Esq''. New York: P.F. Collier, 1892.
*''Madam Sapphira''. New York: F. Tennyson Neely, 1893.
*''Enthralled''. London: Tudor Press, 1894.
*''When Dreams Come True''. New York: P. F. Collier, 1895.
*''Purple and Fine Women''. New York; Ainslee, 1903.
*''The Perfume of Eros''. New York: A. Wessels, 1905.
*''Vanity Square''. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1906.
*''Daughters of the Rich''. New York: Mitchell Kennerley, 1909.
*''The Monster''. New York: Pulitzer, 1912.
*''The Paliser Case''. New York: Boni and Liveright, 1919.
*''The Ghost Girl''. New York: Boni and Liveright, 1922.
*''The Princess of the Sun and Other Decadent Stories''. Snuggly Books, 2022. {{ISBN|9781645250999}}

===Poetry===
*''Poppies and Mandragora''. New York: Harold Vinal, 1926.

===Translations===
*''Balzac: After-Dinner Stories'' [as Myndart Verelst]. New York: George J. Coombes, 1886.
*''Merimee, Prosper and Theophile Gautier. Tales Before Supper'' [as Myndart Verelst]. New York: Brentano's, 1887.
*''Barbey d’Aurevilly. Story Without A Name''. Chicago: Belford, 1891; New York: Brentano's, 1919 (new introduction).
:<small>Adapted from the author bibliography that appears in ''Edgar Saltus'' by Claire Sprague.</small><ref name=":2" />{{Rp|145–6}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{Cite book|chapter=Edgar Evertson Saltus|editor-last1=Blanck|editor-first1=Jacob|editor-link1=Jacob Blanck|editor-last2=Smyers|editor-first2=Virginia L.|editor-last3=Winship|editor-first3=Michael|url=https://archive.org/details/bibliographyofam0007blan|url-access=registration|title=Bibliography of American Literature|year=1983|publisher=[[Yale University Press]]; [[Bibliographical Society of America]]|isbn=0-300-03839-9|oclc=557668|volume=7|pages=[[iarchive:bibliographyofam0007blan/page/326/mode/1up|326–337]]}}

==External links==
* {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/edgar-saltus}}
*{{Gutenberg author |id=1417| name=Edgar Saltus}}
*{{Gutenberg author |id=38822| name=Marie Saltus}}
*{{Librivox author|id=10910}}
*{{Internet Archive author |sname=Edgar Evertson Saltus}}
*{{IMDb name|0759130}}
*{{LCAuth|n80036685|Edgar Saltus|84|}}
*[[hdl:10079/fa/beinecke.saltus|Edgar Saltus Papers]]. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120321093839/http://www.absintheliteraryreview.com/archives/fierce7.htm Edgar Saltus: Forgotten Genius of American Letters?]
*[http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/PrintMovie.aspx?Movie=2090&s=1 Entry from the American Film Institute catalog of ''The Paliser Case''.]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saltus, Edgar}}
[[Category:1855 births]]
[[Category:1921 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century American biographers]]
[[Category:19th-century American essayists]]
[[Category:19th-century American novelists]]
[[Category:19th-century American poets]]
[[Category:20th-century American biographers]]
[[Category:20th-century American essayists]]
[[Category:20th-century American historians]]
[[Category:20th-century American male novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century American novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century American poets]]
[[Category:American male biographers]]
[[Category:American people of Dutch descent]]
[[Category:American Theosophists]]
[[Category:Burials at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery]]
[[Category:Columbia Law School alumni]]
[[Category:Novelists from New York (state)]]
[[Category:Pseudonymous writers]]
[[Category:St. Paul's School (New Hampshire) alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from New York City]]
[[Category:19th-century American male poets]]
[[Category:20th-century American male poets]]

Edgar Saltus - Revision history

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