The items are numbered, and there is a list of contents at the beginning and end.

Most of the letters, which cover the period 1721-1781, with a few of 1707, are addressed by Archibald Napier of Bowhopple, Minister of Kilmadock, the transcriber's grandfather (see number 61), and his son, Thomas Napier of Greenhill, watchmaker in Glasgow, to Archibald Napier, apothecary in Edinburgh, and other members of the family. There are also copies of letters of other writers, hymns, sermons, etc., some taken from printed works. They consist almost entirely of religious reflections, with some mention of family affairs, but include proposals, 1746, for the celebration of the Protestant victory of Culloden by a day of prayer and thanksgiving (number 31), a letter, 1769, of John Porteous, Minister of Kilmuir Easter, describing a journey north via Carron and Appin (number 38), part of a sermon preached against the theatre by Robert Walker, Minister of St Giles, 1770 (number 58), and six letters, 1779-1781, of Benjamin McDowell, Presbyterian Minister in Dublin, referring to foreign affairs (numbers 67-72).