What is the history of the jigsaw puzzle?
*************** Linda Hannas, The English Jigsaw Puzzle:1760 to 1890, establishes John Spilsbury, printer, as a publisher of “Dissected Maps” no later than 1763, in Russell Court, London. Stukje Voor Stukje: Geschiedenis van de Legpuzzle in Nederland, by Betsy and Geert Bekkering, includes the story, somewhat skeptically, that Queen Christina of Sweden ordered her most beautiful paintings to be cut to pieces to make them into puzzles and had them glued on to the the ceilings, circa 1650. Some have claimed that some “dissected maps” were produced on the Continent a few years before Spilsbury began producing his. 18th and 19th century jigsaw puzzles were almost all hand-cut wooden puzzles. At first, educational themes predominated, but soon, more entertaining topics and treatments became popular. Cardboard puzzles appeared in the late 1800’s, but did not become very common until the 1920’s or so, when die-cutting techniques were invented which made the process more economical. The furthe
