Peacock's Improved Double Dissection, England and Wales thumbnail 1
Not currently on display at the V&A

Peacock's Improved Double Dissection, England and Wales

Dissected Puzzle
ca. 1860 (published)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Dissected puzzles were the forerunners of jigsaws. They were very simply made by placing a picture on a piece of wood and cutting it into shapes. Some pieces might interlock, but most of the puzzle was just pushed into place. This meant that it would not stay in one piece very easily. To solve this, the outer edges of some puzzles, like this example, had long interlocking pieces that would hold the whole puzzle together. The reverse of this puzzle has a map of England and Wales. It was quite common for a puzzle to have two sides. These were called double dissection.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Titles
  • Peacock's Improved Double Dissection, England and Wales (manufacturer's title)
  • The London, Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester Railway (manufacturer's title)
Materials and techniques
Hand-coloured engraving on wood
Brief description
Hand coloured dissected puzzle published in England by William Peacock in about 1860
Physical description
Design: hand coloured engravings mounted on wood and cut into non interlocking pieces
No. of Pieces: 69, 3 missing
Dimensions
  • Height: 27.5cm
  • Width: 36cm
  • Box height: 17.7cm
  • Box width: 22.9cm
  • Box depth: 4cm
Object history
W Hughes was a map engraver often employed by George Philip & Son
England and Wales map by Peacock, about 1860, often used the railway print by Edward Wallis done about 1840.



Games & Puzzles, CGG, 1991
Historical context
No. of Players: any
Equipment required: puzzle shows on one side a map of England and Wales and on the reverse the London, Birmingham, Liverpool & Manchester Railway
original box with sliding lid and lithographed pictorial label showing exotic fauna
Production
Railway illustration probably originally by Edward Wallis
Summary
Dissected puzzles were the forerunners of jigsaws. They were very simply made by placing a picture on a piece of wood and cutting it into shapes. Some pieces might interlock, but most of the puzzle was just pushed into place. This meant that it would not stay in one piece very easily. To solve this, the outer edges of some puzzles, like this example, had long interlocking pieces that would hold the whole puzzle together. The reverse of this puzzle has a map of England and Wales. It was quite common for a puzzle to have two sides. These were called double dissection.
Collection
Accession number
E.1834-1954

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Record createdMarch 5, 2000
Record URL
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