I searched around and found a couple similar bugs, but wasn't entirely sure they were describing the same problem.
I came across this issue while dealing with File:Congressional Record Volume 81 Part 3.djvu, but several additional examples have surfaced from various other discussions:
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Свод_законов_Российской_империи_том_11_часть_2_(1912).djvu
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dictionary_of_Greek_and_Roman_Geography_Volume_II.djvu
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:EB1911_-_Volume_26.djvu
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:EB1911_-_Volume_27.djvu
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:United_States_Statutes_at_Large_Volume_118.djvu
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:United_States_Statutes_at_Large_Volume_120.djvu
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:United_States_Statutes_at_Large_Volume_123.djvu
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:United_States_Statutes_at_Large_Volume_49_Part_1.djvu
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Толковый_словарь._Том_2(1)_(Даль_1905).djvu
Note: This bug description initially listed several files that also failed to generate thumbnails, but further investigation revealed that in those cases the actual files were corrupt (i.e. truncated or missing pages):