The first jigsaw puzzle

[Darrah Chavey]

I just now noticed that a copy of the first jigsaw puzzle, “Europe Divided into its Kingdoms” (1766) was auctioned off by Christie’s Auction house about a week ago (for £5,000). The listing, at:

https://www.christies.com/lotfinder/books-manuscripts/spilsbury-john-europe-divided-into-its-6154693-details.aspx

includes a fairly detailed description, although it’s unlikely to include anything substantial that jigsaw aficionados don’t already know. However, it does have three very nice, high-resolution, photographs. Those pictures are available at:

https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2018/CKS/2018_CKS_16018_0228_000(spilsbury_john_europe_divided_into_its_kingdoms_london_j_spilsbury_c17).jpg,

https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2018/CKS/2018_CKS_16018_0228_001(spilsbury_john_europe_divided_into_its_kingdoms_london_j_spilsbury_c17).jpg, and

https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2018/CKS/2018_CKS_16018_0228_002(spilsbury_john_europe_divided_into_its_kingdoms_london_j_spilsbury_c17).jpg.

I should add that I don’t know if those links are stable. It’s possible that at some point after the auction they might delete the images, or move them to an archive site.

Darrah Chavey
Professor, Math & Computer Science
Beloit College, Wisc.

USISTD Certified Ballroom Dance Instructor
http://cs.beloit.edu/chavey/

The word "swims" upside-down is still "swims".