Stanford’s ‘Library Map of London and its Suburbs’ was first published in 1862. It went through twenty-one states according to Hyde but arguably the most important is this, the thirteenth, he describes it in detail. By 1872 there was much greater interest in the geology of the London area and its effects on population distribution etc. The annual address of the President of the Geological Society that year was largely devoted to it. The Geological Survey was undertaking the work but only on the one inch series of maps which was published in 1873.

Under preparation at the same time was a larger model under the direction of James B. Jordan (1838-1915) and William Whitaker (1836-1925). The scale chosen was six inches to the mile which enabled them to utilise the Ordnance Survey in the same scale. Hyde goes on to say ‘I have deliberately described this model at some length because its construction led to the publication of a new geological map of some significance. Jordan … [was] secured by Stanford, this time to transfer the information from the model on to his ‘Library Map of London’. The first edition of this geological version of ‘Stanford’s Library Map’ appeared in 1877 … it filled a gap which badly needed to be filled until such time as the survey could embark on its own six-inch survey for the London region. A RARE GEOLOGICAL MAP OF SOME SIGNIFICANCE. Hyde (1975) no. 91.13 & pp. 34-6.