The English Jigsaw Puzzle, 1760-1890: with a descriptive check-list of puzzles in the museums of Great Britain and the author's collection

Jigsaw puzzles today are one of the most loved toys. They appeal equally to young and old because they demand only that amount of skill and patience each player is prepared to give. But they have become so much part of the social scene that, until now, no-one has questioned their origin. For some years Linda Hannas has been engaged on a great deal of original research to establish when jigsaws were first made, where, and by whom. Wills, parish records, census returns, rate books, street directories, have all been used. The results of this research are set down here and make fascinating reading. The reader will discover that jigsaws were invented more than two hundred years ago by a London engraver and that they were designed, not as a toy, but as a serious teaching aid. Their history is traced from the 1760's to the 1890's when colour printing and greater mechanization began to destroy the charm and character of their first hundred years. The author traces the changing fashions in subjects, the evolving pattern of manufacture and distribution, and describes the reception given to "dissections", as jigsaws were then called, by the educationalists of the day. References to them in literature are also quoted.