New General Catalogue
The original "New General Catalogue" was compiled during the 1880s by John Louis Emil Dreyer using observations from William Herschel and his son John, among others. Dreyer had already published a supplement to Herschel's "General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters" (GC), containing about 1,000 new objects. In 1886, he suggested building a second supplement to the "General Catalogue", but the Royal Astronomical Society asked Dreyer to compile a new version instead. This led to the publication of the "New General Catalogue" in the "Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society" in 1888.