would display the hidden underside of England. he spent twenty years traveling the length and breadth of the kingdom by stagecoach and on foot. studying rock outcrops and fossils. piecing together the image of this unseen universe.In 1815 he published his epochal and remarkably beautiful hand-painted map. more than eight feet tall and six feet wide. But four years after its triumphant publication. and with his young wife going steadily mad to the point of nymphomania. Smith ended up in debtors’ prison. a victim of plagiarism. swindled out of his recognition and his profits. He left London for the north of England and remained homeless for ten long years as he searched for work. It wasn’t until 1831. when his employer. a sympathetic nobleman. brought him into contact with the Geological Society of London — which had earlier denied him a fellowship — that at last this quiet genius was showered with the honors long overdue him. He was summoned south to receive the society’s highest awa
would display the hidden underside of England. he spent twenty years traveling the length and breadth of the kingdom by stagecoach and on foot. studying rock outcrops and fossils. piecing together the image of this unseen universe.In 1815 he published his epochal and remarkably beautiful hand-painted map. more than eight feet tall and six feet…