Mr. James Thomson Gibson-Craig, who was born in March 1799, was the second son of Mr. James Gibson, the political reformer, who, on succeeding under entail to the Riccarton estates in 1823, assumed the name of Craig, and in 1831 was created a baronet. He was educated at the High School and the University of Edinburgh, and after spending some time in foreign travel, he became a Writer to the Signet, and joined the firm afterwards known as Gibson-Craig, Dalziel and Brodies, of Edinburgh, of which he continued a member until about the year 1875. Mr. Gibson-Craig was well known for his literary and antiquarian tastes, and it was principally owing to his exertions that the Historical Manuscripts of Scotland were reproduced and issued during the time his brother, Sir William Gibson-Craig, held the office of Lord Clerk Register. He was a friend of Sir Walter Scott, of Lord Jeffrey, and Lord Cockburn, and at a later period of Lord Macaulay; and he was also intimate with most of the principal Scottish artists and antiquaries of his time. He died at Edinburgh on the 18th of July 1886. Mr. Gibson-Craig, who began to collect during his student days, formed an extensive and valuable library of choice books, many of which were bound by celebrated binders, and were once to be found in such famous libraries as those of Grolier, Canevari, Diana of Poitiers, Mary Queen of Scots, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, De Thou, Count von Hoym, Longepierre, and Madame de Pompadour. After his death his collection was sold by Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge in three portions. The first portion was sold on June the 27th, 1887, and nine following days; the second on March the 23rd, 1888, and five following days, and on April 6th and eight following days; and the third on November the 15th, 1888, and two following days. There were altogether nine thousand four hundred and four lots, and the amount realised was fifteen thousand five hundred and nine pounds, four shillings and sixpence.

The following are some of the more notable books and manuscripts in the collection, and the prices obtained for them:—

BartholomÆi Camerarii de PrÆdestinatione dialogi tres. Parisiis, 1556. Bound in white morocco, the sides blind-tooled with the various emblems of Diana of Poitiers, and the initial of Henry II., King of France, surmounted by a crown. In the centre of the upper cover are the words CONSEQVITVR QVOD CVNQVE PETIT, and on the lower cover NIHIL AMPLIVS OPTAT. One hundred and forty-six pounds.

Cronique de Savoye, par Maistre Guillaume Paradin. Lyon, 1552. This volume formerly belonged to Mary Queen of Scots. It is in the original calf binding, and has in the centre of each cover a shield bearing the arms of Scotland, surmounted by a crown, with a crowned M above, below, and on each side of them, as well as at the corners of the book, and also on the panels of the back. Two hundred and sixty-five pounds.

Larismetique et Geometrie de Estienne de la Roche. Lyon, 1538. The binding bears the arms of James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, third husband of Mary Queen of Scots. Eighty-one pounds.

The XIII. Bukes of Eneados, translated out of Latyne verses into Scottish metir bi Mayster Gawin Douglas, Bishop of Dunkel, and unkil to the Erie of Angus. [W. Copland], London, 1553. Seventy-five pounds, ten shillings.

Poliphili Hypnerotomachia. Aldus, Venetiis, 1499. Ninety pounds.

Tewrdannck. Augsburg, 1519. Thirty-nine pounds.

Walton's Compleat Angler. First edition. London, 1653.

Cotton's Complete Angler. First edition. London, 1676. Together, one hundred and ninety-five pounds.

Burns's Poems. Kilmarnock, 1786. One hundred and eleven pounds.

The more important of the manuscripts were:—

HorÆ B. MariÆ Virginis, written in the thirteenth century on vellum by an Anglo-Saxon or Scottish scribe. Three hundred and twenty-five pounds.

The First and Second Series of Sir Walter Scott's Chronicles of the Canongate. An autograph manuscript presented by the author to R. Cadell. One hundred and forty-one pounds.

A collection of valuable and interesting correspondence and memoranda relating to the Rebellion of 1715, comprising many of the original letters and despatches from the Earl of Mar, etc. Ninety-nine pounds.

In 1882 Mr. Gibson-Craig issued, in an edition of twenty-five copies, Fac-similes of Old Book Binding in his collection; and in the following year a facsimile reprint of the Shorte Summe of the whole Catechisme, by his ancestor John Craig, accompanied by a memoir of the author by Thomas Graves Law, of the Signet Library. He also printed for the Bannatyne Club 'Papers relative to the marriage of King James the Sixth of Scotland with the Princess Anna of Denmark A.D. MDLXXXIX, and the Form and Manner of Her Majesty's Coronation at Holyroodhouse A.D. MDXC.'