The Life of Roger Langdon, Told by himself. With additions by his daughter Ellen.

The memoir recounts a working-class man's life from childhood through marriage and later years, emphasizing self-education, family responsibilities, and inventive skill. It traces early memories, varied employments, a secret departure and a period living away, return to marry, and long service as a station-master while raising a large family. Parallel threads describe autodidactic study of languages and shorthand, mechanical inventiveness used to make tools and several telescopes, sustained amateur astronomical observation, and a paper presented to a scientific society. The narrative concludes with reflections on his closing years and is followed by appendices and editorial additions supplied by his daughter.