Edith B. (Edith Bertha) Ordway

Edith B. Ordway, also published as Edith Bertha Ordway, was an American author born in 1877 and remembered for a varied shelf of reference and guidebooks. Surviving catalog records connect her with books on social customs, quotations, conundrums, vocabulary, and opera, showing a writer with a gift for organizing information for general readers.

Among the works attributed to her are The Etiquette of To-day (first published in 1913), The Handbook of Quotations (1913), The Handbook of Conundrums (1913/1915 in available records), Synonyms and Antonyms, Handbook of the Operas, and The Opera Book. These titles suggest the range of her interests: everyday social life, language, entertainment, and accessible cultural education.

Reliable biographical detail about her life beyond her publications is scarce in the sources I could confirm. Even so, her books make a clear impression: she wrote to inform, simplify, and help readers feel more at home in subjects that might otherwise seem formal or intimidating.