Photograph of Edinburgh Castle as seen from the Grassmarket with Johnston Terrace lined with buildings, including the Black Bull Inn and a tobacco and snuff manufacturers in the foreground. Horses and carts line the side of the street. In the background, the castle stands on an elevated position on the Castle Rock with the Half Moon Battery visible on the right. The walls of the Great Hall stand to the left. 

Edinburgh's Grassmarket has traditionally been associated with inns and taverns which hosted travellers who travelled on the stage coach from Edinburgh to London. It has also been the sight of the city's gallows were executions were carried out. Sir Walter Scott described the grisly presence of the gibbet that once stood in the Grassmarket from his memories as a schoolboy, in his novel The Heart of Midlothian, published in 1818. This photograph is an example of an album size photograph that was introduced by Wilson in the autumn of 1863 and could be purchased mounted on card or loose.

This photograph is part of a portfolio of 42 photographs taken by Wilson that were used to illustrate a book featuring entries from Queen Victoria's journals, written during her visits to Scotland. Leaves from the Journal of Our Life in the Highlands was published to great success in 1868.