John Deere Original 1907-08 Gen.Catalog A 21 Color Pl.Farm Mach.Buggies Wagons

Description

This is the rare original John Deere Plow Company General Catalog A from 1907 and 1908. The 6 3/4 by 10 inch catalog has 509 pages and 21 full page color plates. The 16 introductory pages have the history of the company, photos of the founders, pictures of the plants, offices and "associated houses". The "greeting" states that this is the company's first general catalog.  There's also a photo of a native American man above  "The Indian's Soliloquy A Tribute to John Deere The Inventor and Pioneer Manufacturer of the Steel Plow" by Clay Bowsher. It thanks Deere for the plow that turned the Western grasslands to fields of corn and wheat. The catalog includes a variety of products including plows and cultivators, both simple walking models and elaborate horse drawn machines, disc harrows, corn and cotton planters, hoes, potato planters, mowers, rakes, hay loaders and stackers, manure spreaders, shellers. feed mills and engines. There are also windmills, buggies and sulkies and wagons. Each items has a black and white illustration, details and specifications and a price. This rare catalog does have some condition problems -  the front cover has stains and tears , the pages have toning and water stains - some light and some dark. There's some faint writing in pencil on 2 color plates& several pages, and the back cover &  the last 3 pages are  apart from book, and the cover is only partial. 21 pages have corner cut away, 6 pages have some areas with print torn away. Despite the damage, this is a very rare and interesting catalog for the collector.