William Herschel discovered NGC 5888 = H III-659 = h1912 on 9 Apr 1787 (sweep 725) and logged "vF, vS, r." His position is 7' southeast of UGC 9771. JH made the single observation "pB; R; bM; 15"; the PD differs 5' from my Father's." His position is on the south side of the galaxy.

400/500mm - 17.5" (7/15/93): second and brightest of three with NGC 5886 4.6' SW and NGC 5889 4.2' NNE. Fairly faint, elongated 5:3 NNW-SSE, weak concentration. A mag 12 star is 1.5' SE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb