Geography, taken apart
London mapmaker John Spilsbury is often credited with early commercial jigsaws. Maps were attached to wood and cut along borders, helping children learn geography. They were called dissected maps.
Piece by piece
A hobby that began with a map.
Long before the familiar landscape puzzle, there were wooden geography lessons. Here are a few milestones in the story.
Surviving pieces of history
The Library of Congress holds an 1854 map puzzle with 64 pieces, made from hand-coloured paper on wood. London Museum also preserves a world-map puzzle dated around 1860.
New subjects, new audiences
Picture puzzles broadened into subjects such as stories, landscapes and nursery rhymes. London Museum’s collection records show how dissected puzzles evolved beyond their map-making roots.
The same satisfying idea
Whether a puzzle uses wood, cardboard or a screen, the attraction is familiar: scattered details gradually become a complete picture.
Why the name is a clue
“Jigsaw” points to a cutting tool, while “dissected map” describes what early puzzlers were actually putting together. The names reveal two different stages of the hobby’s history.
History has rough edges too
Invention stories are often simplified. We say Spilsbury is “often credited” rather than claiming that no one made a related educational puzzle before him.
Explore the original sources
These links support the historical details above. Artwork on this website is illustrative and does not reproduce museum objects.
Try the modern version
Choose an illustrated scene and put it together on your screen.
Play a free puzzle →