{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} '''David Fairweather Foxon''', [[Fellow of the British Academy|FBA]] (9 January 1923 – 5 June 2001) was an English bibliographer. Noted for his study of books and literature in 18th-century England, he was the Reader in Textual Criticism at the [[University of Oxford]] from 1968 to 1982.
== Early life and education == Born in [[Devon]] on 9 January 1923, Foxon was the son of a [[Methodism|Methodist]] minister from a family of weavers. He studied at [[Kingswood School]] before winning a [[scholarship]] to read [[classics]] at [[Magdalen College, Oxford]]. But, with the outbreak of the [[World War II|Second World War]] his move to Oxford was interrupted and the headmaster at his school, A. B. Sackett, recommended him to the [[Government Code and Cypher School]].<ref>[[Nicolas Barker]] and James McLaverty, [https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/documents/1780/161p159.pdf "David Fairweather Foxon, 1923–2001"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210505083445/https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/documents/1780/161p159.pdf |date=5 May 2021 }}, ''[[Proceedings of the British Academy]]'', vol. 161 (2009), pp. 160–161.</ref> Foxon served in a civilian capacity as a [[Code Breaker|code breaker]] at [[Bletchley Park]] from 1942 to 1944,<ref>[https://bletchleypark.org.uk/roll-of-honour/3198 "Roll of Honour: Mr David Fairweather Foxon"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210505083436/https://bletchleypark.org.uk/roll-of-honour/3198 |date=5 May 2021 }}, ''[[Bletchley Park]]''. Retrieved 5 May 2021.</ref> when he was transferred to [[Ceylon]]. After [[demobilisation]], he resumed his studies at Oxford in 1946, reading English; [[C. S. Lewis]] was one of his tutors.<ref>James McLaverty, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/40372245 "David Foxon, Humanist Bibliographer"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210505083434/https://www.jstor.org/stable/40372245 |date=5 May 2021 }}, ''[[Studies in Bibliography]]'', vol. 54 (2001), p. 87.</ref> Graduating with a [[Bachelor of Arts|BA]] in 1948,<ref>''The International Authors and Writers Who's Who'' (International Biographical Centre, 1977), p. 335.</ref> he initially began studying towards the [[Bachelor of Literature|BLitt]], but opted to join [[HM Civil Service]].<ref name="McLaverty 2009 p. 164">Barker and McLaverty (2009), p. 164.</ref>
== Career, research, honours and retirement == Foxon's civil service career began with a short period in the [[Ministry of Town and Country Planning]],<ref name="McLaverty 2009 p. 164"/> but in 1950<ref>McLaverty (2001), p. 88.</ref> he was appointed an assistant keeper of printed books at the [[British Museum Library]]. Remaining there until 1965, he was then a professor of English at Queen's University in Ontario from 1965 to 1967, and then a [[Guggenheim Fellow]] for the 1967–68 year.<ref name=":0">[[Nicolas Barker]], [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/david-foxon-9147374.html "David Foxon"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210505092229/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/david-foxon-9147374.html |date=5 May 2021 }}, ''[[The Independent]]'', 23 February 2014. Retrieved 5 May 2021.</ref> Foxon moved to the [[University of Oxford]] in 1968 to be the [[Reader (academic rank)|Reader]] in [[Textual Criticism]]<ref name=":0" /> and a [[Fellow (Oxbridge)|fellow]] of [[Wadham College, Oxford|Wadham College]]. He remained there until retirement in 1982;<ref>Barker and McLaverty (2009), pp. 171, 174.</ref> Foxon was eventually succeeded, in 1986, by [[Donald McKenzie (academic)|Donald McKenzie]].<ref>[[David McKitterick]], [https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/documents/362/115p297.pdf "Donald Francis McKenzie, 1931–1999"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210505083445/https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/documents/362/115p297.pdf |date=5 May 2021 }}, ''[[Proceedings of the British Academy]]'', vol. 115 (2002), p. 310.</ref>
In an obituary in ''[[Studies in Bibliography]]'', James McLaverty described Foxon as "perhaps the most distinguished British bibliographer of the second half of the twentieth century."<ref>McLaverty (2001), p. 81.</ref> His ''English Verse, 1701–1750: A Catalogue of Separately Printed Poems with Notes on Contemporary Collected Editions'' (1975) was ground-breaking. <ref>"Foxon and After." [[The Book Collector]] 25 (no3) Autumn, 1973: 311-324.</ref>
Foxon's research into English pornography in the late 17th and 18th centuries appeared in a series in [[The Book Collector]] in 1963<ref>Foxon, David. "Libertine Literature in England, 1660-1745," [[The Book Collector]] 12 (no 1) Spring 1963: 21-36; 12 (no 2) Summer 1963: 159-177; 12 (no 3) Autumn 1963: 294-307; and "John Cleland and the Publication of 'The Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure'." 12 (no 4) Winter 1963: 476-487.</ref> and were published in a limited edition as ''The Origins of Pornography in England.'' <ref>Foxon, David. ''The Origins of Pornography in England.'' Sheaval Press, 1964.</ref> These culminated in his book, ''Libertine Literature in England, 1660–1745.'' <ref>Foxon, David F. 1965. ''Libertine Literature in England, 1660-1745.'' New Hyde, N.Y: University Books.</ref><ref>Barker and McLaverty (2009), pp. 159–160, 167.</ref>
He wrote ''The Technique of Bibliography'' (1955) and, with James McLaverty, he authored ''Pope and the Early Eighteenth-Century Book Trade'' (1991). For Gregg Press, Foxon edited reprints of 22 entries in the English Bibliographical Sources series from 1964 to 1968, which included 16th- and 17th-century catalogues of printed books, printers' manuals, and catalogues of new publications from 18th-century periodicals.<ref>A full bibliography of his works is given in McLaverty (2001), pp. 110–113.</ref>
He held the [[Lyell Lectures|Lyell Readership in Bibliography]] at the University of Oxford for 1975–76 and the [[Sandars Lectures |Sandars Readership in Bibliography ]] at the [[University of Cambridge]] from 1977 to 1979.<ref name=":0" />
In 1978, Foxon was elected a [[fellow of the British Academy]].
He was the president of the [[Bibliographical Society]] for the 1980–81 year and was awarded the society's [[Bibliographical Society#Gold medal|Gold Medal]] in 1985.<ref>Barker and McLaverty (2009), pp. 163, 174–175.</ref>
Foxon had met his wife June while they were both serving at Bletchley Park; she was the daughter of the cinema proprietor Sir Arthur Jarrett. They divorced in 1963, having had a daughter.<ref>Barker and McLaverty (2009), pp. 161, 163–164.</ref> Foxon died on 5 June 2001.<ref name=":0" />
==Selected publications== *Foxon, David F, and J McLaverty. 1991. ''Pope and the Early Eighteenth-Century Book Trade.'' Oxford England, New York: Clarendon Press ; Oxford University Press. *Foxon, David F. ''English Verse 1701 - 1750: A Catalogue of Separately Printed Poems with Notes on Contemporary Collected Editions Vol''. 1. Catalogue. 1975. London u.a: Cambridge University Press. *Foxon, David F. 1966,1965. ''Libertine Literature in England, 1660-1745.'' New Hyde Park, N.Y: University Books. *Foxon, David F, and Lessing J. Rosenwald Reference Collection (Library of Congress). 1959. ''Thomas J. Wise and the Pre-Restoration Drama: A Study in Theft and Sophistication.'' London: Bibliographical Society. *Foxon, David F. 1955. ''The Technique of Bibliography.'' Cambridge England: Published for the National Book League at the University Press.
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Foxon, David}} [[Category:1923 births]] [[Category:2001 deaths]] [[Category:English bibliographers]] [[Category:Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford]] [[Category:Fellows of Wadham College, Oxford]] [[Category:Fellows of the British Academy]] [[Category:Bibliographers]] [[Category:People educated at Kingswood School, Bath]]