Originally published in six sheets, it shows the British Empire in India at the height of the expansionist era of Richard, Marquess Wellesley (1760–1842), governor-general of Bengal, who was, nonetheless, to leave the subcontinent in ignominy two years later.
Arrowsmith's dedication of this map to Wood is probably more a reflection of the fact that Wood was in the public eye (he had recently published two successful works on India and the route to India), than a recognition of his work as a surveyor (which had ended over ten years earlier). Sir Mark Wood (1747- 1829) had returned to England in 1793 after a distinguished career in the East India Company, culminating with his appointment as surveyor-general in 1787 and chief engineer in Bengal in 1790.
Aaron Arrowsmith (1750-1823) was the finest cartographer of his generation. Although he received little formal education it is believed that he was taught some mathematical instruction by William Emerson, an author of several books on the application of mathematics to the area of cartography. Around 1770, Arrowsmith moved to London to seek employment. It is believed that he worked for William Faden before joining John Cary Sr. in the early 1780s. There he provided the measurements for John Cary's early publication detailing the roads from London to Falmouth, his first signed work. Arrowsmith set up on his own in 1790 and over the next thirty years produced some of the most beautiful and elegant maps of the era.
Rare, OCLC records three institutional examples: British Library, Harvard, and BNF.