Richard D. Altick (1915-2008)

Richard D. Altick

He was the only faculty member in the English department to be honored with the title of Regents Professor. He published a number of books of wide interest and of great influence, including The Scholar Adventurers (1950), The Art of Literary Research (1963), and A Preface to Critical Reading (1949 and 1969). He was an eminent scholar of Victorian studies: among his many other books, to mention only a few, were The English Common Reader: A Social History of the Mass Reading Public 1800-1900 (1957), Browning's Roman Murder Story: A Reading of The Ring & The Book (1968; with James Loucks), Lives and Letters: A History of Literary Biography in England and America (1969), Victorian Studies in Scarlet: Murders and Manners in the Age of Victoria (1970), The Shows of London: A Panoramic History of Exhibitions, 1699-1862 (1978), Victorian People and Ideas: A Companion for the Modern Reader of Victorian Literature (1980), and Paintings from Books: Art and Literature in Britain 1760-1900 (1985). He also frequently wrote essay-reviews for the Times Literary Supplement and the London Review of Books.