Lawrence Parsons, the 4th earl of Rosse, discovered NGC 1274 on 13 Dec 1874 and labeled it as "d" on his sketch. The sketch and micrometric offset from a nearby star matches CGCG 540-102 = PGC 12413. This galaxy is identified as IC 1907 (discovered by Bigourdan on 22 Oct 1884 and included in list IV-375). But Harold Corwin equates IC 1907 with NGC 1278 (see that number). Thomson has a long discussion on the identify of IC 1907 in his IC survey.

300/350mm - 13.1" (1/28/84): very faint, very small. Located 2.7' NW of NGC 1275 within AGC 426.

400/500mm - 17.5" (10/24/87): faint, very small, weak concentration, slightly elongated. Located in the dense central core of AGC 426 just 2.7' NW of NGC 1275 and 2.6' E of NGC 1273.

CGCG 540-101 = PGC 12405, which is misidentified as IC 1907 in MCG, PGC and RC3, lies 2.3' NW. It appeared very faint, small, round. A small triangle of stars is close south.

600/800mm - 24" (2/13/18): at 375x; fairly faint, fairly small, elongated 5:3 SW-NE, 25"x15", slightly brighter nucleus. Located in the center of an oval ring of galaxies in the core of AGC 426. The four nearest are NGC 1278 2.7' NE, NGC 1275 2.6' SE, NGC 1273 2.6' WSW and CGCG 540-101 2.2' NW! The latter galaxy appeared fairly faint, fairly small, round, 25" diameter. An equilateral triangle of mag 14 stars is close south.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb