What Was the Image on the First Jigsaw Puzzle?

Unknown. No surviving record identifies the exact image on the very first jigsaw puzzle (c. 1760s).

What We Know

• Inventor: **John Spilsbury** (London mapmaker/engraver) — credited with commercializing "dissected maps" c. **1762–1767**.
• Purpose: **Educational** — geography teaching aids for children.
• Likely images: **Maps** — England/Wales, Europe, World, counties. Mounted on mahogany, hand-cut along borders.
• Earliest surviving: 1766 "Europe Divided into its Kingdoms" (Victoria & Albert Museum).

Why No Definitive "First"

• Spilsbury produced *many* map puzzles; no dated log survives.
• Precursors: dissected prints, educational toys (e.g., 17th-century "puzzle pictures" for adults).
• "Jigsaw" name came later (1880s fretsaw → "jigsaw" cutter).

Evolution to Modern Puzzles

1. 1760s–1800s: Dissected maps (educational, elite).
2. 1820s: Lithography → cheaper; subject expansion (history, Bible, nursery rhymes).
3. 1880s: Treadle jigsaw → interlocking pieces; "puzzle" name sticks.
4. 1909: Parker Brothers Pastime Puzzles → adult craze, figure pieces.
5. 1930s: Die-cut cardboard → mass market (10¢–25¢); Depression-era boom.

So the first was almost certainly a **map** — but which one? Lost to history.