Apparently first published in 1840. A detailed map of Cumberland County in New South Wales, showing the landowners. The current example was printed after Raphael Clint had assumed the rights to Wells's maps on his bankruptcy in 1842. It shows the Sydney metropolitan area, within the County of Cumberland, stretching from Broken Bay in the north, to the northern suburbs of Wollongong in the south. Cumberland was the first county established following British colonisation in 1788, and the name chosen by Governor Phillip to honour Prince Henry, the Duke of Cumberland, on 4 June 1788, the birthday of his brother, King George III. In 1835 Cumberland County was subdivided into 57 parishes.

The map extends from the Macdonald River to the north of the city, down to Appin further south. From the eastern coastline, characterised by Botany Bay and Broken Bay, the map extends westwards to the towns of Castlereagh, Strathdon and Mulgoa in the suburbs of Richmond and Evan. The map serves as a cadastral survey of the entire city, with estates and land delineated and labelled according to the owner. Some names appear frequently while other plots are identified as "Church Land","Orphan School Land" or "Reserve". Along with the "Race Course", there are also industrial features such as "the Suppl. of Water to the Town of Sydney". Along the coast numerous bays are identified, the most significant being "Botany Bay discovered by Capt. Cook 1770".

Wells's map of Cumberland was first published in 1840. An exceptionally long advertisement in 'The Australian Sportsman's Calendar' of 1857 notes that 'Mr. Wells has now revised and republished his copper-plate map of Cumberland; he has inserted all farms up to the present period, and included the whole of Curryjong and Camden Districts. As well as showing the Police Districts, the North and South Ridings, and the. parishes, he has defined the boundaries of the Ancient Districts of Cumberland. The. price on the best paper is Ten Shillings'.

The mapmaker
Henry William Wells (1817-1860) arrived in Australia from England in 1838, when he was a draftsman in the Surveryor General's office at Port Philip. In 1839 he set himself up as an estate agent and surveyor in Sydney, and is notable for surveying Cumberland and Concord Counties, as well as Surrey Hills and Redfurn. In 1842 he was denied the post of City Surveyor on account of his near bankruptcy. At this point the printer, Raphael Clint, took on the publishing rights to Wells's maps, prompting Well to reissue his own maps as piracies via the printer William Baker. Clint denounced them both in the public press: "Some men pursue their fortunes in the direct paths of honour, honesty and industry; and some seek that object through the devious ways and labyrinths of a crooked policy. I wish Mr Wells joy in his election, and Mr Baker much profit from his piracy". Wells drowned in the Minnamurra River.