He started life as an accountant of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge in Bartlett's Buildings.
On the death of his father, he joined his brother Robert, who died in 1818, as a printer at St. John's Square.
On the death of his brother-in-law George Byrom Whittaker, on 13 December 1847, the family acquired a fortune, and his only son, Robert Gilbert, succeeded to his uncle's share in the business as a wholesale bookseller and publisher.
He died at 70 Euston Square, London, 26 February 1852, aged 58, and was buried in the vaults of St. John's Church, Clerkenwell, on 4 March.
[1] Gilbert wrote and published in 1829 the Liber Scholasticus;[2] a second edition was The Parent's School and College Guide (1843).