An Edinburgh museum writer
Thomas Nelson & Sons advertised Gibson’s books in 1886, identifying him with the Edinburgh museum. His subjects ranged from the material beneath the reader’s feet in Chips from the Earth’s Crust to unfamiliar animals of the open ocean. A transcription of his Scottish probate entry describes him as an assistant keeper, gives his death in Edinburgh on 20 June 1887 and names his widow, Catherine Bisset or Gibson. Little has been established about his training or his early years at the museum.
A sighting and a specimen
In Monsters of the Sea, Gibson included the long creature sailors reported seeing from HMS Daedalus. He also wrote about giant squid remains recovered at Logie Bay in Newfoundland. An engraving could give each animal an equally convincing presence on the page. The accounts behind the pictures allowed readers to see which details depended on an eyewitness and which could be checked against a specimen.
