Donald Francis McKenzie,FBA (5 June 1931 – 22 March 1999) was aNew Zealandbibliographer and literary scholar. He was professor of bibliography and textual criticism at theUniversity of Oxford from 1989 to 1996.[1][2]
Born inTimaru, New Zealand, the son of a bootmaker, McKenzie was educated at various schools, the last beingPalmerston North Boys' High School, before joining theNew Zealand Post Office in 1948.[1] He continued his studies part-time atVictoria University College,Wellington (BA 1954; DipJourn 1955; MA 1957) and briefly taught at the institution, before obtaining a scholarship toCorpus Christi College, Cambridge, where he graduated with a PhD in 1961.[1] Initially he researched the working conditions of printers in the age of Shakespeare under the supervision ofPhilip Gaskell but abandoned that topic in favour of a study of early printing presses specifically Cambridge's presses.[1]
McKenzie's research on the archives ofCambridge University Press led to the publication ofThe Cambridge University Press, 1696–1712: A Bibliographical Study (2 vols., 1966).[1][3]
Returning to Victoria University College (which became theVictoria University of Wellington in 1961) in 1960, McKenzie held a succession of academic posts before being appointed professor of English language and literature in 1969.[1]
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 asAlistair Campbell andBill Manhire.[1][3][4] He was one of the founders ofDownstage Theatre in Wellington and published music scores with composerDouglas Lilburn.[3]
In 1986, he was appointedreader in textual criticism at the University of Oxford in succession toDavid Foxon, also becoming a professorial fellow ofPembroke College, Oxford the same year.[1] In 1989, he was appointed professor of bibliography and textual criticism at Oxford. He retired in 1996, becoming supernumerary fellow of Pembroke College.[1]
McKenzie gave theSandars Lectures at Cambridge in 1976 and theLyell Lectures in Oxford in 1988, exploring the 17th century book trade.[1]
In 1985 he delivered the firstPanizzi Lectures at the British Library on "Bibliography and the Sociology of Texts".[3][5] He was elected a CorrespondingFellow of the British Academy in 1980 and a Fellow in 1986. He was elected an Honorary Fellow of theAustralian Academy of the Humanities in 1988, and was awarded the gold medal of theBibliographical Society in 1990.[1]
In 1997 he received an Honorary Doctorate from Victoria University of Wellington.[6][7][3]
McKenzie married Dora Haig and they had one son. They divorced in 1989 and he married Christine Ferdinand in 1994.[1][3]
TheMcKenzie Lectures in Oxford were established in his honour.[8][9][10] In New Zealand an annual D.F. McKenzie Memorial Lecture, co-hosted by Wai-te-ata Press, is given.[11] Victoria University also established a scholarship named the D.F. McKenzie Award for MA or PhD students.[12]
