Consider this 351-page, richly illustrated hardcover the definitive J.I. Case tractor and equipment history from its 1842 origins to 1955. The authors at the time of its writing and subsequent publication had J.I. Case connections. David Erb produced the J.I. Case Collectors’ Assoc. Old Abe News while Eldon Brumbaugh worked for Case starting in 1953 until his retirement in 1988. The three-page bibliography and the acknowledgement of the extensive research of primary source material from the Case company archives and records reflect the book’s comprehensive coverage. Set within the context of “reducing the toil of the American farmer,” the book’s 12 sections detail the story of Jerome Increase Case and the history of the J.I. Case Co. beginning with the threshing machine and including tractors, the acquisitions and products of the Grand Detour Plow Co., the Emerson-Brantingham Co., the Rock Island Plow Co. and the Heider Co.—even Heider coaster wagons, Case combines, as well as Case automobiles. For the detail-minded readers, the appendices include serial numbers, Nebraska Test results, production and sales data, model specifications, engineering notes, and combine and threshing machine sales. J.I. Case Agricultural & Construction Equipment 1956–1994 Volume Two picks up where this volume concludes.

Book Review by Robert Gabrick