He is the author of A Pedagogy of Observation: Nineteenth-Century Panoramas, German Literature, and Reading Culture (Bucknell University Press, 2017). In addition to research on nineteenth-century visual culture, cultures of commemoration, and the environmental humanities, Byrd researches and teaches history of the book and periodicals. He recently co-edited a journal issue on interpreting German literary texts in their original nineteenth-century periodical publication context and is preparing an edited volume on nineteenth-century literature and editorial culture.