Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Craig, James Thomson Gibson
CRAIG, JAMES THOMSON GIBSON (1799–1886), antiquary, was the second son of Sir James Gibson Craig [q. v.], the first baronet of Riccarton. He received his education at the high school and the university of Edinburgh, and afterwards became a writer to the signet. He was the friend of Scott and Jeffrey, of Cockburn and Macaulay, of antiquaries from the time of Kirkpatrick Sharpe and David Laing to the time of George Scharf, of artists from the days of Sir Henry Raeburn and the elder Nasmyth to those of Sir William Fettes Douglas. An original member of the Bannatyne Club he was known for his literary and antiquarian tastes, and for his extensive collection of works in various languages. In 1882 he issued in an edition of twenty-five copies a sumptuous series of facsimiles of historic and artistic bookbindings in his collection, and in 1883 a facsimile reprint of the ‘Shorte Summe of the whole Catechisme,’ by his ancestor, John Craig, accompanied with a memoir of the author by Thomas Graves Law. He died at Edinburgh on 18 July 1886. A first part of his valuable library was sold in London in June 1887.
[Academy, 24 July 1886; Times, 26 July 1886; Lockhart's Life of Scott.]