Fleeming Jenkin, noted for his work in engineering and applied electricity, was one of R. L. S.'s closest friends in his early days. When Jenkin, then thirty-five, became Professor of Engineering in Edinburgh University, Stevenson, much against all his inclinations, was professedly studying to qualify himself for his father's calling. The Memoir of Fleeming Jenkin, which Stevenson wrote on his friend's death in 1885, was undertaken at Bournemouth with the assistance of Mrs. Jenkin. It is the only biographical work which Stevenson completed, and rather curiously is said to be the book which his wife thought the most successful of his writings.

This edition is one the most complete Stevensonia collections. It contains a wealth of his essays, memories and records. The essays brought together under this title are chiefly Stevenson's reflections, ten years afterwards, on the experiences and friendships of his youth. They represent a proportion of his contributions of this kind to reviews and magazines, from 1882 to 1887. Some of the essays are : The Foreigner at Home, Old Mortality, Pastoral, The Manse, Thomas Stevenson, Talk and Talkers, The Character of Dogs and A Penny Plain.