William Herschel discovered NGC 4775 = H II-186 = h1470 on 25 Apr 1784 (sweep 207) and logged "rather F, cL, R, r." JH made the single obwervation "vF; L; R; 90"; vglbM. Its companion [NGC 4786] looked for but not seen."

Based on a photograph taken at the Helwan observatory between 1927-31 with the 30-inch Reynolds reflector, NGC 4775 was described in the 1935 bulletin as an "open spiral, pF complicated central region with an almost stellar nucleus and many stellar condensations n.p. and s.f. of centre."

400/500mm - 17.5" (5/17/90): fairly bright, fairly large, elongated 3:2 SSW-NNE, weak concentration, mottled appearance. A mag 13.5 star is off the SW edge 1.3' from center. NGC 4786 lies 18.4' SE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb