William Herschel discovered NGC 4474 = H II-117 = H II-629 = h1295 on 8 Apr 1784 (sweep 187) and noted "r[esolvable]." His position (Caroline's reduction) was 35 seconds of RA too large. He observed this galaxy again on 14 Jan 1787 (sweep 691) and simply noted as "F". His position was 12 seconds of RA too small, and assuming it was new, catalogued it again as W. II-629. John Herschel realized the equivalence when he compiled the GC.

300/350mm - 13.1" (5/14/83): fairly faint, small, very elongated E-W.

400/500mm - 17.5" (4/25/87): second brightest of three in the field with NGC 4468 6' WSWand NGC 4459 14' WSW. Moderately bright, fairly small, very small bright core, faint stellar nucleus, elongated WSW-ENE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb