William Herschel discovered NGC 4888 = H II-778 = h1505 on 23 Mar 1789 (sweep 916) and noted "F, S, south following a double star." JH recorded "pF; vS; E; psbM." and measured a good position.

RNGC mislabels NGC 4888 as NGC 4879.

400/500mm - 17.5" (5/22/93): fairly faint, fairly small, elongated 2:1 WNW-ESE, small bright core. Almost exactly collinear with a nice double star mag 12/13 just 1' WNW of core. The double star has the same position angle as the galaxy. Forms a pair with NGC 4878 4' SW.

900/1200mm - 48" (4/2/11): very bright, moderatly large, very elongated 3:1 WNW-ESE, brighter along the major axis. Well concentrated with a very bright core. A bright, wide double star is 1' W of center (separation of ~35"). A mag 15 star is between the pair and the galaxy, ~30" WSW of center.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb