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.

The impact of the Ordnance Survey and contemporary interest in geology led the Superintendent of the OS to authorise Henry de la Beche, the Vice-President of the Geological Society to found the Ordnance Geological Survey (now known as the British Geological Survey) in 1835. A decade later, the Geological Survey Act was passed which mandated a survey of the entire country. The OGS produced a geological map of London on the scale of one inch to the mile, and Stanford followed suit with one on the same scale and a larger version in 24 sheets. He was assisted by J. B. Jordan of the OGS.

The key at the top identifies the different types of soil deposits and geological formations found in the Greater London area.

Second edition, printed twelve years after the first, with the information "[J.B. Jordan] Assistant Keeper of Mining Records From the Geological Survey Maps of the District. Surveyed principally by W. Whitaker Esq. B.A. SECOND EDITION."

Rare: This edition is unrecorded by OCLC; Hyde records two institutional examples in London borough libraries.