Ralph Copeland discovered NGC 81 on 15 Nov 1873 during one of the observations with Lord Rosse's 72" of the GC 38 = NGC 80 group. Copeland described a "F neb, fairly certain. Pos 212.3°, dist 219.5" from [NGC 83]". His micrometric offset matches PGC 1352. Corwin notes that Bigourdan mistook a star NW of the galaxy (mentioned in my visual observation of the galaxy) as NGC 81.

400/500mm - 17.5" (9/19/87): extremely faint and small, slightly elongated. Two mag 15 stars are close NW, the nearer star is 40" NW. Located just 1.6' NNE of NGC 80 in a group.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb