William Herschel discovered NGC 1371 = H II-262 = h2555 on 17 Nov 1784 (sweep 321) and logged "F, a little & irr E above 1' in dia." His position is ~5' north of ESO 482-010 = PGC 13255. JH called the galaxy "B, L, R, psbM, 2'." and noted a 4' error in the PD in his working list from Caroline Herschel.

Ormond Stone independently found the galaxy in 1886 and recorded LM 1-106 as "mag 13.0 [bright], *9, nf 5.0'." His rough position is a good match with H II-262 = NGC 1371 and his comment about the nearby star clinches the equivalence. Dorothy Carlson and Harold Corwin both conclude NGC 1371 = NGC 1367, with NGC 1371 the primary designation.

200/250mm - 8" (10/13/81): faint, moderately large, bright core, diffuse halo.

400/500mm - 17.5" (11/26/94): fairly bright, moderately bright, elongated 3:2 NW-SE, 2.5'x1.5', halo fades into the background. Very bright elongated core 30" diameter increases to a stellar nucleus. A mag 8.3 star SAO 168653 (wide double at 53" with a mag 11.5 star) is 4.5' NE. NGC 1360 lies one degree SSW.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb