Ralph Hyde, a former curator of graphic arts at the Guildhall Library in London, is a pre-eminent historian and writer on the subject of Panoramic painting. Since his retirement, he has lived in France and continues as an active scholar in the field. In addition to having curated the Panoramania exhibition at the Barbican, he is the author, with Felix Barker, of the richly illustrated book London As It Might Have Been, which illustrates numerous planned, but never built, fanciful structures in London. He is a member of the International Panorama Council, and is presently compiling a Dictionary of Panoramists.