Lewis Swift discovered IC 1071 = Sw. X-27 on 25 Jun 1891 and logged "eF; S; R; BM." His position is 2' too far south. Swift missed nearby IC 1072 and IC 1073 to the north, which Javelle discovered the following year. Howe reported a corrected position in his series of NGC/IC observation in Monthly Notices.

400/500mm - 18" (6/17/04): brightest and furthest south of a collinear trio with IC 1072 5.5' N and IC 1073 2.7' N. Appears fairly faint, fairly small, slightly elongated NNW-SSE, 0.8'x0.6'. A mag 12 star lies 4.8' NW.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb