In 1899, a Chicago train company commissioned “The Mammoth”, a 1400lb camera that took photos 4.5 x 8 feet in size. They needed such a large plate because they wanted a highly detailed photo of their newest train, and techniques for enlarging negatives hadn’t yet been perfected. By the looks of this pamphlet, graphic design hadn’t been perfected either.

The train photo went on to win “Grand Prize of the World” in the 1900 Paris Exposition.