Edward Stanford (1827-1904) was a highly successful publisher, known for his accurate maps of London. He began his career working for Trelawny Saunders, an enterprising mapmaker who supplied a daily weather chart for the Great Exhibition. Stanford started his own business in 1853, was elected a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society the following year and set about expanding the cartographical aspect of the firm. Stanford's great rival was James Wyld, and both publishers produced a geological map of the entire London area in 1870.

During the late nineteenth century, public interest in India was at a high, due to fear of a Russian invasion, negotiations between the British authorities and the Amir of Afghanistan, and a series of small battles between the British and Pashtun tribes, including the Mohmand Campaign which Winston Churchill accompanied as second lieutenant and war correspondent. These events were concentrated in the North Western Frontier, which was described by Edward Stanford on two maps in the 1890s.

The first of these maps was more general, and was included in his 'London Atlas' of 1894, with great attention paid to relief in particular. The present sketch map, on the other hand, covers a smaller geographical area but in greater detail. It extends from Jhelum in the south to the Wakhun Corridor and the "Russian sphere of Influence" above the Oxus to the north. It also encompasses the Pamirs and a substantial part of Afghanistan. In the lower left-hand corner can be seen Malakand, northeast of Peshawar, where a British garrison was besieged before being relieved in August 1897 by a force including the young Churchill.

Relief is not shown in so much detail, but significant mountains are represented by triangles, some accompanied by their impressive height given in feet. A large number of settlements are named, mostly concentrated alongside India's many rivers. It is possible that the present sketch map of 1897 may be a revised version of one introduced two years earlier.