Nils Selmer Hauff was a Norwegian bookseller.

He was born in Drøbak

Drøbak

Drøbak is an unincorporated city and the centre of the municipality of Frogn, in Akershus county, Norway. The city is located along the Oslofjord, and has 13,358 inhabitants....

 in Akershus

Akershus

- Geography :The county is conventionally divided into the traditional districts Follo and Romerike, which fill the vast part of the county, as well as the small exclave west of Oslo that consists of Asker and Bærum...

 county, Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

. He started his career working for Jacob Dybwad

Jacob Dybwad

Jacob Dybwad was a Norwegian bookseller and publisher, and a pioneer in the Norwegian publishing trade. Dybwad was the publisher of the Norwegian almanac from 1877, and of Nordahl Rolfsen's readers for primary school in the 1890s. He was appointed Knight of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav in...

 in Kristiania

Oslo

Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

, but opened his own bookstore in 1911. He chaired the Norwegian Booksellers Association

Norwegian Booksellers Association

The Norwegian Booksellers Association is a Norwegian interest group. Its purpose is "looking after the interests of the booksellers and working to strengthen the position of literature and books in society". It awards the annual Norwegian Booksellers' Prize .It was founded on 10 January 1851. The...

 from 1927 to 1936 and 1946 to 1950. In the 1910 census for Norway he is listed as a Muslim; in 1900 he is listed as belonging to the Church of Norway but also, improbably, as "Office woman" (kontor-dame) under the heading "occupation". He was also involved in arts patronage

Patronage

Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows to another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings or popes have provided to musicians, painters, and sculptors...

.