The map is the work of Robert Knox, former marine surveyor to the East India Company in Bengal. It was originally published in 1821, and then in 1849 with additions, primarily the coastal section showing the strata in elevation. The colouring of the strata is identified on the table by the explanations, and generally follows Smith's colours, whereas chalk areas are left blank as in Greenough.
The 1821 edition was used by Smith himself: the Geological Society Library holds an example signed and dated 1831. Here Smith identified the various strata by using different colours and labelling each one around the edges of the map.
William Smith (1769-1839) produced the first large scale, detailed scientific geological map of any country, 'A Delineation of the Strata of England and Wales, with Part of Scotland', in 1815. The map became the basis for all the geological maps that followed, but left Smith in debt, and in prison until 1819. He moved to Scarborough in 1834, although he had close associations with the town from 1820, and played an important role in the establishment of a museum to collect and display the natural history of the area, the Rotunda Museum.