By Forde Mitchell
The first making of wooden jigsaw puzzles is thought to be about in the late 1750’s. A young mapmaker in London, England started mounting maps on wood, dissecting them and marketing them primarily as a means of teaching geography. These first wooden jigsaw puzzles were cut along political boundaries and quickly became popular with the rich and powerful to assist in the teaching of their children about the ever expanding British empire.
Being expensive, these early wooden jigsaw puzzles were available only for the wealthy. This included royalty, the titled few, some politicians and eventually the upper class in general; those who could afford luxury items to educate their children.
As the popularity of the puzzles increased the subject matter of the pictures used also started to grow. First religious topics were introduced, then favorite books and fairy tales, and other subjects of interest to children.
Finally the interests of adults began to be felt and these were quickly reflected in the images used by the wooden jigsaw puzzle makers. Subjects such as current events, travel and other exciting and interesting topics quickly caught on.
Not only caught on but spread like wildfire to Europe and to North America and beyond. The young, the old, the rich and the poor; everyone was intrigued, and as we now know it was not just a fad.
Since there is no language barrier with wooden jigsaw puzzles their popularity has continued to spread throughout the world. They are especially popular in Japan where many are manufactured but even more are imported. The Japanese like to frame them and display them in their homes by hanging them on the wall like a valuable artistic creation, which in many cases they may well be.
Individual craftsmen have over the years developed quite a few different and distinctive cutting styles, and trickery is also a highly developed talent amongst the better ones. For example, there may be no recognizable corner pieces, and adjacent edge pieces may not interlock with each other. You never know what to expect.
Being custom made, wooden jigsaw puzzles tend to be rather expensive. Nevertheless during the great depressions of the 1910’s and 1930’s they were extremely popular. In fact there was a real craze on for them, both to buy and to rent them. They have always been especially popular with children and seniors. So much so that we shouldn’t be surprised if the interest of the baby boomers and their children bring on a fresh craze even bigger than the 1910’s and 1930’s.
A recent search for wooden jigsaw puzzles on Google resulted in a listing of 166,000 sites. Obviously they are not just a fad. They have become very popular world wide. Since their start in the late 1750’s, wooden jigsaw puzzles over the last 230 years have definitely become ubiquitous.
About the Author:
Forde Mitchell is a custom wooden jigsaw puzzle craftsman who has been custom crafting his unique wooden jigsaw puzzles and delighting puzzlers throughout the world, for years. If you are looking for something special and love a challenge then make sure you get one of his limited edition hand crafted wooden jigsaw puzzles.