![David Skilton MA (Cantab) MLitt (Cantab) FRSA FEA](https://profiles-cardiff.imgix.net/attachments/1832?w=200&h=200&auto=format&crop=faces&fit=crop&q=90")
Professor David Skilton
MA (Cantab) MLitt (Cantab) FRSA FEA
Emeritus Professor
Overview
I have several complementary strands to my current research:
- illustration, and in particular meaning production by words and images working together in the privileged environment of an illustrated work of literature
- the development of digital tools for the processing of bimedial texts
- anticipated ruins: vision of London in ruins in the future.
My principal research interests have been Victorian, and I am best known for work on fiction, especially Anthony Trollope, for whose collected novels, published by the Trollope Society in forty-eight volumes, I was general editor.
In recent years I have worked on the art and literature of London, with particular emphasis on modes of urban vision and the multiplicity of urban narratives. I am preparing a book on visions of London in ruins. The other main strand of my research is in illustration and illustrated texts, and I am one of the founding editors of the Journal of Illustration Studies, which is a peer-reviewed, electronic journal devoted to the systematic study of literary illustration as a discipline in its own right, having its own subject-matter and its own critical and scholarly methods. I was co-investigator in the AHRC-funded project, A Database of Mid-Victorian Wood-Engraved Illustration (DMVI), and held an AHRC grant for a series of illustration workshops run in conjunction with the Victoria and Albert Museum under the title "Literary Illustration: Conservation, Access, Use" (LICAU).
I am currently collaborating on the development of digital tools and digital research platforms capable of processing text and image together.
Publication
2016
- Skilton, D. and Paul, G. 2016. Trollope and illustration. In: Markwick, M., Morse, D. and Turner, M. eds. The Routeledge Research Companion to Anthony Trollope. Abingdon, UK: Routledge, pp. 213-238.
- Skilton, D. J. 2016. Inventing the modern: Millais's wood-engraved illustrations to novels of Anthony Trollope 1860-64. Annali della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa Classe di Lettere e Filosofia Scuola Normale Superiore serie5(8/2), pp. 311-331., article number: 821-826.
2015
- Skilton, D. J. 2015. Complex meanings in illustrated literature, 1860-1880. In: Grennan, S. and Grove, L. eds. Transforming Anthony Trollope: Dispossession, Victorianism and Nineteenth-Century Word and Image. Studies in European Comics and Graphic Novels Vol. 4. Leuven University Press, pp. 89-106.
- Skilton, D. J. and Grennan, S. 2015. Drawing style, genre and the destabilization of register in a graphic adaptation of Trollope’s 1878 novel John Caldigate. In: Tabachnick, S. E. and Saltzman, E. B. eds. Drawn From the Classics: Essays on Graphic Adaptations of Literary Works. McFarland & Company, pp. 147-160.
2014
- Skilton, D. 2014. Gustave Doré's London/Londres: empire and post-imperial ruin. Word and Image 30(3), pp. 225-237. (10.1080/02666286.2014.938528)
2011
- Skilton, D. 2011. Anthony Trollope quotes Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Presented at: The Trollopes : a Family of Writers in Tuscany : Papers from the International Conference, Bagni di Lucca, Italy, 23-24 October 2010 Presented at Bareham, T. ed.Anglistica Pisana (Papers from the International Conference, Bagni di Lucca), Vol. 7. Bagni di Lucca: ETS pp. 65-74.
2009
- Skilton, D. 2009. Anthony Trollope. In: Poole, A. ed. The Cambridge Companion to English Novelists. Cambridge University Press, pp. 210-224.
- Skilton, D. J. 2009. Anthony Trollope. In: Poole, A. ed. The Cambridge Companion to English Novelists. Cambridge Companions to Literature Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 210-224.
- Skilton, D. J. 2009. 'Depth of portraiture': What should distinguish a victorian man from a victorian woman?. In: Marwick, M., Morse, D. D. and Gagnier, R. eds. he Politics of Gender in Anthony Trollope's Novels: New Readings for the Twenty-first Century. The Nineteenth Century Series Farnham; Burlington, VT: Ashgate, pp. 207-220.
- Skilton, D. 2009. 'Depth of portraiture': what should distinguish a Victorian man from a Victorian woman. In: Markwick, M. and Deborahgagnier, M. eds. The Politics of Gender in Anthony Trollope's Novels: New Readings for the Twenty-First Century. Ashgate Publishing Ltd, pp. 207-220.
2007
- Skilton, D. J. 2007. The Centrality of Illustration in Victorian Visual Culture: the example of Millais and Trollope from 1860-1864. Journal of Illustration Studies 1(Dec), article number: 30.
- Skilton, D. J. 2007. The centrality of illustration in Victorian visual culture: the exampe of Millais and Trollope, 1860-64. Journal of Illustration Studies 2007(Dec), article number: 30.
- Skilton, D. J. 2007. "Sweet Thames, run softly": constructing a clean river. Literary London Journal: Interdisciplinary Studies in the Representation of London 5(1)
- Thomas, J., Mandal, A., Killick, P. T. and Skilton, D. 2007. Database of Mid-Victorian wood-engraved illustration. [Internet database]. Cardiff University. Available at: http://www.dmvi.cardiff.ac.uk/
- Skilton, D. J. 2007. Tourists at the Ruins of London: the Metropolis and the Struggle for Empire. Cercles: revue pluridisciplinaire du monde anglophone 17, pp. 93-119.
- Skilton, D. J. 2007. ‘When dreams are coming’: Wordsworth, Jefferies and visions of the London crowd. In: Phillips, L. ed. A Mighty Mass of Brick and Smoke: Victorian and Edwardian Representations of London. DQR Studies in Literature Vol. 41. Rodopi, pp. 85-106., (10.1163/9789004333048_006)
- Skilton, D. 2007. Poetic prophecy and the American revolution: tourists at the ruins of. In: Stephanides, S. ed. Cultures of Memory/Memories of Culture.. University of Nicosia Press, pp. 285-307.
2006
- Skilton, D. J. 2006. Ruin and the loss of empire: from Venice and New Zealand to the Thames. In: Ascari, M. and Corrado, A. eds. Sites of Exchange: European Crossroads and Faultlines. Internationale Forschungen zur Allgemeinen und Vergleichenden Literaturwissenschaft Vol. 103. Rodopi, pp. 133-140.
- Skilton, D. 2006. Sites unseen: the visibility and invisibility of monuments. In: Eysteinsson, A. ed. The Cultural Reconstruction of Places. University of Iceland Press, pp. 165-177.
2004
- Skilton, D. J. 2004. Contemplating the ruins of London: Macaulay’s New Zealander and others. Literary London Journal: Interdisciplinary Studies in the Representation of London 2(1)
2001
- Skilton, D. 2001. The construction of masculinities. In: Dever, C. and Niles, L. eds. The Cambridge Companion to Anthony Trollope. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, pp. 128-141.
1988
- Skilton, D. J. 1988. Schoolboy Latin and the mid-Victorian novelist: a study in reader competence. Browning Institute Studies 16, pp. 39-55. (10.1017/S009247250000208X)
1986
- Skilton, D. 1986. The Trollope reader. In: Hawthorn, J. ed. Nineteenth-Century British Novel. Stratford-upon-Avon Studies Edward Arnold, pp. 143-156.
1980
- Skilton, D. J. 1980. Georg Brandes, English literature and British parliamentary. In: Hertel, H. and Moller Kristense, S. eds. The Activist Critic: a symposium on the political ideas, literary methods and international reception of Georg Brandes. Orbis Litterarum Munksgaard, pp. 36-48.
Articles
- Skilton, D. J. 2016. Inventing the modern: Millais's wood-engraved illustrations to novels of Anthony Trollope 1860-64. Annali della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa Classe di Lettere e Filosofia Scuola Normale Superiore serie5(8/2), pp. 311-331., article number: 821-826.
- Skilton, D. 2014. Gustave Doré's London/Londres: empire and post-imperial ruin. Word and Image 30(3), pp. 225-237. (10.1080/02666286.2014.938528)
- Skilton, D. J. 2007. The Centrality of Illustration in Victorian Visual Culture: the example of Millais and Trollope from 1860-1864. Journal of Illustration Studies 1(Dec), article number: 30.
- Skilton, D. J. 2007. The centrality of illustration in Victorian visual culture: the exampe of Millais and Trollope, 1860-64. Journal of Illustration Studies 2007(Dec), article number: 30.
- Skilton, D. J. 2007. "Sweet Thames, run softly": constructing a clean river. Literary London Journal: Interdisciplinary Studies in the Representation of London 5(1)
- Skilton, D. J. 2007. Tourists at the Ruins of London: the Metropolis and the Struggle for Empire. Cercles: revue pluridisciplinaire du monde anglophone 17, pp. 93-119.
- Skilton, D. J. 2004. Contemplating the ruins of London: Macaulay’s New Zealander and others. Literary London Journal: Interdisciplinary Studies in the Representation of London 2(1)
- Skilton, D. J. 1988. Schoolboy Latin and the mid-Victorian novelist: a study in reader competence. Browning Institute Studies 16, pp. 39-55. (10.1017/S009247250000208X)
Book sections
- Skilton, D. and Paul, G. 2016. Trollope and illustration. In: Markwick, M., Morse, D. and Turner, M. eds. The Routeledge Research Companion to Anthony Trollope. Abingdon, UK: Routledge, pp. 213-238.
- Skilton, D. J. 2015. Complex meanings in illustrated literature, 1860-1880. In: Grennan, S. and Grove, L. eds. Transforming Anthony Trollope: Dispossession, Victorianism and Nineteenth-Century Word and Image. Studies in European Comics and Graphic Novels Vol. 4. Leuven University Press, pp. 89-106.
- Skilton, D. J. and Grennan, S. 2015. Drawing style, genre and the destabilization of register in a graphic adaptation of Trollope’s 1878 novel John Caldigate. In: Tabachnick, S. E. and Saltzman, E. B. eds. Drawn From the Classics: Essays on Graphic Adaptations of Literary Works. McFarland & Company, pp. 147-160.
- Skilton, D. 2009. Anthony Trollope. In: Poole, A. ed. The Cambridge Companion to English Novelists. Cambridge University Press, pp. 210-224.
- Skilton, D. J. 2009. Anthony Trollope. In: Poole, A. ed. The Cambridge Companion to English Novelists. Cambridge Companions to Literature Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 210-224.
- Skilton, D. J. 2009. 'Depth of portraiture': What should distinguish a victorian man from a victorian woman?. In: Marwick, M., Morse, D. D. and Gagnier, R. eds. he Politics of Gender in Anthony Trollope's Novels: New Readings for the Twenty-first Century. The Nineteenth Century Series Farnham; Burlington, VT: Ashgate, pp. 207-220.
- Skilton, D. 2009. 'Depth of portraiture': what should distinguish a Victorian man from a Victorian woman. In: Markwick, M. and Deborahgagnier, M. eds. The Politics of Gender in Anthony Trollope's Novels: New Readings for the Twenty-First Century. Ashgate Publishing Ltd, pp. 207-220.
- Skilton, D. J. 2007. ‘When dreams are coming’: Wordsworth, Jefferies and visions of the London crowd. In: Phillips, L. ed. A Mighty Mass of Brick and Smoke: Victorian and Edwardian Representations of London. DQR Studies in Literature Vol. 41. Rodopi, pp. 85-106., (10.1163/9789004333048_006)
- Skilton, D. 2007. Poetic prophecy and the American revolution: tourists at the ruins of. In: Stephanides, S. ed. Cultures of Memory/Memories of Culture.. University of Nicosia Press, pp. 285-307.
- Skilton, D. J. 2006. Ruin and the loss of empire: from Venice and New Zealand to the Thames. In: Ascari, M. and Corrado, A. eds. Sites of Exchange: European Crossroads and Faultlines. Internationale Forschungen zur Allgemeinen und Vergleichenden Literaturwissenschaft Vol. 103. Rodopi, pp. 133-140.
- Skilton, D. 2006. Sites unseen: the visibility and invisibility of monuments. In: Eysteinsson, A. ed. The Cultural Reconstruction of Places. University of Iceland Press, pp. 165-177.
- Skilton, D. 2001. The construction of masculinities. In: Dever, C. and Niles, L. eds. The Cambridge Companion to Anthony Trollope. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, pp. 128-141.
- Skilton, D. 1986. The Trollope reader. In: Hawthorn, J. ed. Nineteenth-Century British Novel. Stratford-upon-Avon Studies Edward Arnold, pp. 143-156.
- Skilton, D. J. 1980. Georg Brandes, English literature and British parliamentary. In: Hertel, H. and Moller Kristense, S. eds. The Activist Critic: a symposium on the political ideas, literary methods and international reception of Georg Brandes. Orbis Litterarum Munksgaard, pp. 36-48.
Conferences
- Skilton, D. 2011. Anthony Trollope quotes Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Presented at: The Trollopes : a Family of Writers in Tuscany : Papers from the International Conference, Bagni di Lucca, Italy, 23-24 October 2010 Presented at Bareham, T. ed.Anglistica Pisana (Papers from the International Conference, Bagni di Lucca), Vol. 7. Bagni di Lucca: ETS pp. 65-74.
Datasets
- Thomas, J., Mandal, A., Killick, P. T. and Skilton, D. 2007. Database of Mid-Victorian wood-engraved illustration. [Internet database]. Cardiff University. Available at: http://www.dmvi.cardiff.ac.uk/
Research
Research interests
- illustration studies
- Victorian literature
- nineteenth-century illustrated texts
- Anthony Trollope
- Gustave Doré
- the art and literature of London
- digital humanities
- the Capture, curation and processing of bimedial texts