Lewis Swift discovered IC 1291 = Sw. X-46 on 5 Jun 1891 and recorded "eF; vS; R; F * close N." His position is 13 seconds of RA too far west and 2.3' too far north (3.3' NW of the galaxy). Herbert Howe, in his survey of NGC and IC objects around 1900, mentions he was unable to see a "F * close N", though noted two 12th mag star north-following and north-preceding. But Swift was probably referring to the star less than 1' NNE, which is closer to mag 13.5. Howe also measured an accurate position that was repeated in the IC 2 notes section.

400/500mm - 17.5" (7/24/95): very faint, small, irregular glow of 30" diameter. Appears to have no core but there are one or two extremely faint mag 15.5-16 stars superimposed on the south end. Nearly collinear with two mag 10.5-11 stars 2.3' and 3.3' NNW.

600/800mm - 24" (7/19/17): at 375x; fairly faint, moderately large, irregular shape. Two 15th magnitude stars are superimposed [separation 11" on DSS2] with a weak core just to the northwest of these stars. The glow elongates further to the NW of the core [this is the central bar]. An extremely small HII knot, ~5" diameter, occasionally popped in the same position near the NW end of the "bar" [18" NW of center]. There was a hint of an arm curling further northward towards a mag 13.5 star [0.8' NNE of center]. A mag 13 star is 1' WNW and two mag 11.5 stars further NW are collinear with the galaxy.

LEDA 214690 was glimpsed 3.7' NE. At 375x it appeared extremely faint (B ~16.7), very small, round, 12" diameter. It only occasionally popped with averted vision but verified as the position was consistent.

24" (9/10/15): at 260x; fairly faint, fairly small, elongated 2:1 NW-SE, increases in length with averted vision to ~40"x16". Appears to have a very faint quasi-stellar nucleus, along with a faint superimposed star very close southeast. A mag 13.5 star is less than 1' N of center. An HII region in the northwest spiral arm was not seen, though the transparency was fairly poor. Two mag 11-11.5 star lie 2.4' and 3.4' NNW (collinear with the galaxy) and a mag 9.8 star is 4.2' SW. Situated in a busy star field.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb