Donald Francis McKenzie, FBA (5 June 1931 – 22 March 1999) was a New Zealand

bibliographer Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes ''bibliography ...

and literary scholar. He was professor of bibliography and textual criticism at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

from 1989 to 1996.

Early life and education

Born in

Timaru Timaru (; mi, Te Tihi-o-Maru) is a port city in the southern Canterbury Region of New Zealand, located southwest of Christchurch and about northeast of Dunedin on the eastern Pacific coast of the South Island. The Timaru urban area is home to ...

, New Zealand, the son of a bootmaker, McKenzie was educated at various schools, the last being

Palmerston North Boys' High School Palmerston North Boys' High School is a traditional boys school located in Palmerston North, New Zealand. Location Palmerston North Boys' High School has a campus located on Featherston Street between Rangitikei and North Streets in the central ...

, before joining the

New Zealand Post Office The New Zealand Post Office (NZPO) was a government department of New Zealand until 1987. It was previously (from 1881 to 1959) named the New Zealand Post and Telegraph Department (NZ P&T). As a government department, the New Zealand Post Office ...

in 1948. He continued his studies part-time at

Victoria University College Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well know ...

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by metr ...

(BA 1954; DipJourn 1955; MA 1957) and briefly taught at the institution, before obtaining a scholarship to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where he graduated with a PhD in 1961. Initially he researched the working conditions of printers in the age of Shakespeare under the supervision of

Philip Gaskell Philip Gaskell (6 January 1926 – 31 July 2001) was a British bibliographer and librarian. Life He was born on 6 January 1926 in Highgate, London, the son of John Wellesley Gaskell, director of an engineering company, and his wife, Olive Eliza ...

but abandoned that topic in favour of a study of early printing presses specifically Cambridge's presses.

Career

McKenzie's research on the archives of

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer. Cambridge University Pre ...

led to the publication of ''The Cambridge University Press, 1696–1712: A Bibliographical Study'' (2 vols., 1966). Returning to Victoria University College (which became the

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well kno ...

in 1961) in 1960, McKenzie held a succession of academic posts before being appointed professor of English language and literature in 1969. He founded the Wai-te-ata Press at Victoria University in 1962 to teach students all elements of book printing and production and to print the work of local authors such as Alistair Campbell and

Bill Manhire William Manhire (born 27 December 1946) is a New Zealand poet, short story writer, emeritus professor, and New Zealand's inaugural Poet Laureate (1997–1998). He founded New Zealand's first creative writing course at Victoria University of Well ...

. He was one of the founders of

Downstage Theatre Downstage Theatre was a professional theatre company in Wellington, New Zealand, that ran from 1964 to 2013. For many years it occupied the purpose-built Hannah Playhouse building. Former directors include Sunny Amey, Mervyn Thompson, and Colin ...

in Wellington and published music scores with composer

Douglas Lilburn Douglas Gordon Lilburn (2 November 19156 June 2001) was a New Zealand composer. Early life Lilburn was born in Whanganui and spent his early years on the family sheep farm in the upper Turakina River valley at Drysdale. He attended Waitaki ...

. In 1986, he was appointed

reader A reader is a person who reads. It may also refer to: Computing and technology * Adobe Reader (now Adobe Acrobat), a PDF reader * Bible Reader for Palm, a discontinued PDA application * A card reader, for extracting data from various forms of ...

in textual criticism at the University of Oxford in succession to David Foxon, also becoming a professorial fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford the same year. In 1989, he was appointed professor of bibliography and textual criticism at Oxford. He retired in 1996, becoming supernumerary fellow of Pembroke College.

Awards

McKenzie gave the

Sandars Lectures The Sandars Readership in Bibliography is an annual lecture series given at Cambridge University. Instituted in 1895 at the behest of Mr Samuel Sandars of Trinity College (1837–1894), who left a £2000 bequest to the University, the series has c ...

at Cambridge in 1976 and the

Lyell Lectures The Lyell Readership in Bibliography is an endowed annual lecture series given at Oxford University. Instituted in 1952 by a bequest from the solicitor, book collector and bibliographer James Patrick Ronaldson Lyell (1871–1948the series has conti ...

in Oxford in 1988, exploring the 17th century book trade. In 1985 he delivered the first Panizzi lecture at the British Library on "Bibliography and the sociology of texts". He was elected a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy in 1980 and a Fellow in 1986. He was elected an Honorary Fellow of the

Australian Academy of the Humanities The Australian Academy of the Humanities was established by Royal Charter in 1969 to advance scholarship and public interest in the humanities in Australia. It operates as an independent not-for-profit organisation partly funded by the Australia ...

in 1988, and was awarded the gold medal of the Bibliographical Society in 1990. In 1997 he received an Honorary Doctorate from Victoria University of Wellington.

Personal life

McKenzie married Dora Haig and they had one son. They divorced in 1989 and he married Christine Ferdinand in 1994.

Legacy

The

McKenzie Lectures The McKenzie Lectures are a series of annual public lectures delivered by "a distinguished scholar on the history of the book, scholarly editing, or bibliography and the sociology of texts". The lectures are held in Oxford at the Centre for the S ...

in Oxford were established in his honour. In New Zealand an annual D.F. McKenzie Memorial Lecture, co-hosted by Wai-te-ata Press, is given. Victoria University also established a scholarship named the D.F. McKenzie Award for MA or PhD students.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McKenzie, Donald 1931 births 1999 deaths New Zealand public servants New Zealand bibliographers Literary scholars People from Timaru People educated at Palmerston North Boys' High School Victoria University of Wellington alumni Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Fellows of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Fellows of Pembroke College, Oxford Fellows of the British Academy Corresponding Fellows of the British Academy Fellows of the Australian Academy of the Humanities New Zealand expatriates in England Academic staff of the Victoria University of Wellington