See PAJ2421, another original copy, for notes and reproducible images; PAI7661 is also another early copy lacking the printer's inscription; PAI7662 is a mid-20th-century reproduction. The present example is an incomplete copy of the same state (state iv) as the others (i.e printed after 1642), with the printer's inscription but lacking the right end of the second (right) plate. It is also in very poor condition, partly from light staining but also because apparently a late impression from badly worn and damaged plates. The backboard bore an ink inscription, now inverted, showing it was a gift to Nevil Maskelyne (5th Astronomer Royal, 1765 to 1811): 'To Dr Maskelyne / for the use of the Royal Observatory / from his obliged & faithful / H-C-Englefield / Feb 20 1806'. This donor was undoubtedly Sir Henry Charles Englefield (c. 1752 -1822) antiquary and scientific writer (see ODNB). It was therefore certainly the first item ('An Ancient View of Greenwich') on a list of 12 'Pictures' that Mrs Maskelyne left in Flamsteed House 'for the use of the Royal Observatory' when she moved out following her husband's death in April 1811. The list is on folio 8 of an inventory in the Maskelyne papers in the Museum (REG09/000037: 10:3-10:22): it also includes books and manuscripta of his that she also presented and left behind. It returned to NMM in 1998 on closure of the Royal Greenwich Observatory, then at Cambridge. See also ZBA0692 for further notes. [PvdM amended 9/15 and 2/20]