I've been doing some google searches but still haven't come up with the history of 4x5 format/film. Near as I can tell, it was an American invention and probably from somewhere around 1898. Was this a proprietary size by Kodak that took off with the Graflex cameras? Or, did it just sort of appear, out of the mist of time? I assume that going into the 1890s the sizes were mostly the old English plate sizes (half plate, quarter plate, ....) or the European metrics (9x12 etc.) But then again, I'm not finding anything telling me when the metric sizes got started either. I'm guessing that when sheet film began getting popular then these new sizes began to appear, around 1900? Only the English kept the plate sizes for another ~50 years? Was there a first 4x5 camera?