Howard Nixon

Howard Millar Nixon OBE (3 September 1909 – 18 February 1983) was a British librarian and historian of bookbinding. He was a librarian at the British Museum then Librarian of Westminster Abbey from 1974 until his death. Nixon was educated at Marlborough College before studying at Keble College, Oxford, where he took a degree in history in 1931. After graduating and finding employment hard to come by, he took up his father's suggestion of working in the Abbey's library, a task that Nixon enjoyed sufficiently to study for a diploma at the School of Library Studies at University College London. He spent this time visiting anti-aircraft sites across the country, visiting many local libraries in the process.

On retiring from the British Museum, Nixon became Librarian of Westminster Abbey in 1974, and held the post until his death.

Nixon was appointed Lecturer in Bibliography at the School of Library Studies at University College London in 1959, holding the post until 1976. He was also Sandars Reader in Bibliography at the University of Cambridge from 1967 to 1968.

He was Lyell Lecturer in Bibliography at the University of Oxford from 1978 to 1979 where he lectured on The History of Decorated Bookbinding in England.

Nixon served as president of the Bibliographical Society from 1974 to 1975 and was awarded the society's gold medal in 1978. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1983 and was elected to an Honorary Fellowship of Keble.