He moved to Soho Square, London from Winston, County Durham, when about twenty years of age, and was employed by John Cary, the engraver and William Faden.

Four years later he published another large map of the world on the globular projection, with a companion volume of explanation.

Arrowsmith's 1808 map of the western and eastern hemisphere was updated, corrected and enlarged by James Gardner in 1825.

[4] A careful comparison of this left this writer spellbound both by the coverage of Arrowsmith's map, and by the quality of Gardner's modifications, including his notes documenting subsequent exploration.— David L. Walker, 2014[4]He left two sons, Aaron and Samuel, the elder of whom was the compiler of the Eton Comparative Atlas, of a Biblical atlas, and of various manuals of geography.

[2] Aaron Arrowsmith the elder was responsible for organising the volume of maps for Rees's Cyclopædia, 1802–19.