William Herschel discovered NGC 4212 = H II-108 = h1144 on 8 Apr 1784 (sweep 187) and noted "mE, resolvable." His position (CH's reduction) is 6.5' too far northeast. He apparently also recorded it as the previous object "pL" in the sweep. JH also recorded this galaxy twice (h1142 = h1144) on different nights. See notes for NGC 4208.

The LdR observation on 8 Mar 1856 (by R.J. Mitchell) reads "Irregular shaped neb with ncl excentric and some sort of knot or appendage following. Possibly another knot in preceding end. The former one is likely connected with the neb forming a sprial arm." The same month he logged "Much better seen. There are 4 knots or stars in the neb besides the bright patch south-following."

400/500mm - 17.5" (4/25/98): fairly bright, fairly large, 2.2'x1.4' oriented WSW-ENE. Moderate concentration to a large bright core which appears mottled. The nucleus is not well defined although the core is broadly concentrated and at times a stellar center was glimpsed. A mag 11.5 star is 2.3' S. IC 3061 lies 11' NW. Poor transparency due to smoke.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb