The photometric and spectrographic histories of HD 245770=/sup question-mark/ A0535+26, the transient x-ray source

We have used photographic plates in the Harvard collection dating from 1898 to study the spectrum and photometric properties of the 9th magnitude Bpe star HD 245770. This star, the prime candidate for the transient source A0535+26, showed no emission features or other unusual characteristics on early spectrograms covering the region 3800--5000 A. The extreme B magnitudes of HD 245770 are found to be 9.4 +- 0.1 and 10.1 +- 0.1. (AIP)