Albert Marth discovered NGC 3598 = m 217 on 4 Mar 1865 and noted "F, vS, stell." His position matches UGC 6278 = PGC 34306.

Wilhelm Tempel found this galaxy in 1876 and recorded it in list I-33, and noted a star close north.

400/500mm - 17.5" (4/9/99): fairly faint, fairly small, slightly elongated SW-NE, well-concentrated with a bright core steadily increasing to a faint stellar nucleus. The outer halo is ill-defined and much weaker. A mag 14 star is just off the north edge 0.6' from center and a pair of mag 13.5 stars is 4' ENE. NGC 3592 lies 11' W.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb