Malby was publishing this fine desktop globe under the superintendence of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge; therefore his geography was very much up to date for the time. Burton, Speke and Grant's discoveries of the great lakes in East Africa are shown as well as the early mapping of the American West. However, the true geographical interest lies in the early attempted depiction of the South Pole. Partly based on known sources at the time and the new information brought by Charles Wilkes on behalf of the US Navy, Malby makes an attempt to show the shape of the South Pole. To his credit, he is aware that large tracts of this land mass are still unknown and great stretches of the coastline are shown as a dotted line signifying the lack of knowledge prevalent at the time. As well as being a pleasing piece of furniture, this globe was also made in the heyday of the exploration of the interior of the continents of Africa, Asia, and Australia.