Evening star., 1898-11-07
THE LATE MISS NORDHoFF.
Tribute to Her Artistic sense and Re.
fined Taste.

Mr.. Paul Leicester Ford in a letter to the
New York Tribune. says of the late Miss
Nordhoff:
"American art as we'll as q wide circle
of warm friends and admirers met with a
loss in the sudden death of Evelyn Hunter
Nordhoff of this city, on November , Al
though her name and work were already
known to many Of the most discrimi IA ting
book collectors. and though the artistic
binding she has actually accomplished will
be a permanent monument to her skill and
artistic taste, the excellence and beauty of
that work were promise of still better.
and SO a fine and purposeful career is end
ed just as IL had reached its fruition Her
death. too. terminates one of the most
promising instances of what a womln can
achieve in a handicraft art hitherto mo-
nopolized by men.
Miss Nordhoff was daughter of Charles
and Ida Nordhoff. and spent the early
part Of her life at Alpine on the Palisades.
and in Washington. With natural artistic
ability and liking she finally turned her es-
pecial attention to binding. Unwilling to
do poor work. and with high stfnda rd
of excellence. she first went into the bind
cry of Stikeman & Co, the best Of Ameri-
can binders, as an apprentice, and worked
there for some time. She then went Ebrcad
and so convinced Cobden-Saunderson. the
famous 'individualist' English binder OF
her sincerity and purpose that ne was in
duced to take her into his shop and give
her the full benefit of all his wealth OF
knowledge and cultivation. AMI he was
well rewarded, for Miss No-dhof proved
herself an apt pupil, and one in whom he
could take positive pride Returning to this
country, Miss Nordhoff established a pri-
vate bindery, and such was the beauty of
her work, more especially in the sitistic
quality of the designs, that she soon OBJ
tanned not merely all the work she could
DO but even an excess. This led TO the
taking Of apprentices, thus making her
workshop not merely a bindery. but
school, which promised to materially en-
large the working opportunities Of women.
In addition she delivered n number OF lee
lures on binding, which were noticed at the
time in the Tribune. some at her bindery
others az the Pratt Institute, in Brooklyn
and yet others before the members Of tho
Grolfer Club. Her success was so pro-
nounced that she had Just removed hef
bindery, that, with more space and more
pupils, its usefulness might be enlarged
Though with more work than she could
do in working hours. Miss Nordhof In be-
coming a master binder never surrendered
or neglected her social duties. and her home
had been as much a center to her friends
as that of any less purposeful or less ad-
mirahle woman. To these her death brings
a loss that can end only with the memory
OF her sweetness, her charm and her fine
ness, but the great loss IS for ker own sex
for which she held. without intention or
consciousness. a guiding light both IN char
acter and achievement"
Mrs John w. Foster. In a letter from a
mutual friend in New York. has been made
acquainted with the details Of the death OF
this gifted young woman. She was sur
rounded by friends at the last. her death
following from an operation for the re-
moyal of a tumor In her side, from which
she has suffered for some time back
though with little idea of its serious char
acter. She spent the past summer in Cali
fornia with her parents. By her desire the
remains were cremated. and her sister Is
now on her way east to carry the ashes
back to California.