William Herschel discovered NGC 4261 = H II-139 = h1176 on 13 Apr 1784 (sweep 191) and recorded "Two. The first [NGC 4261] is the largest. The 2nd [NGC 4264] very faint." JH called the galaxy "vB; pL; R; psmbM; 40"." His single position is 10 sec of RA too far west, but Schönfeld and d'Arrest both measured accurate positions.

400/500mm - 17.5" (3/24/90): bright, fairly large, slightly elongated NW-SE, very bright core with stellar nucleus embedded. Brightest in a large group of 13 NGC galaxies. In a field with NGC 4264 3.4' ENE, NGC 4257 7' SSW and CGCG 042-014 5' N. NGC 4260 lies 17' N.

600/800mm - 24" (4/28/14): very bright, very large, oval 4:3 NNW-SSE, 2.4'x1.8'. Sharply concentrated with a large, intensely bright core that brightens to a quasi-stellar nucleus. A mag 15 star is near the edge of the halo on the ENE side. VCC 344 is 1.8' S, just outside the halo, and was logged as "faint, very small, round, 12" diameter, high surface brightness." Forms a pair with NGC 4264 3.3' NE and brightest of 30 galaxies viewed within 35'!

Notes by Steve Gottlieb