[1] After seven years, Wilson returned to Edinburgh, where he practised as an architect, and was for some time teacher of ornament and design in the school of art.
In 1864, the Board of Trade masterships were suppressed and Wilson was pensioned, but continued to live in Glasgow for some years longer, doing architectural work.
He also etched a number of book illustrations, including for Paolo Pifferi's Viaggio Antiquario (Roma, 1832), and James Wilson's Voyage round the Coasts of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1842).
[1] While in Edinburgh Wilson wrote with William Dyce, a pamphlet addressed to Lord Meadowbank, The Best Means of ameliorating the Arts and Manufactures of Scotland.
[1] Wilson was interested in Italian art, on which he wrote, and particularly in Michelangelo Buonarroti, on whom he published a biography (London and Florence, 1876; 2nd edit.