Robert Louis Stevenson authored a biography of Henry Charles Fleeming Jenkin, a man of many talents who served as Regius Professor of Engineering at the University of Edinburgh. Jenkin was known as the inventor of the cable car or telpherage and was also an electrician, cable engineer, economist, lecturer, linguist, critic, actor, dramatist, and artist. His descendants include Charles Frewen Jenkin, a notable engineer, and Conservative MPs Patrick, Lord Jenkin of Roding, and Bernard Jenkin. Stevenson's biography sheds light on the life and achievements of this remarkable and versatile man.