[DISSECTED ALPHABET PUZZLE]; PEACOCK'S IMPROVED DOUBLE DISSECTION: EUROPE

[London: William Peacock]., [c.1860].. Wooden dissected puzzle with hand-coloured engraved alphabet sheet titled "Darton's Children's Pictures", published by Darton, mounted on one side, and a hand-coloured engraved map of Europe by G. F. Cruchley on the other. The completed puzzle measuring 36 x 27cm. Contained within the original wooden box with sliding lid bearing varnished hand-coloured title lithograph decorated with exotic and domestic animals (perhaps a depiction of the Biblical scene of Adam naming the animals). The box measuring 23 x 18 x 4cm. Condition is very good indeed, the puzzle with two pieces with small, neat glue repairs, minor loss to the paper at the edge of two pieces on the map side, and with some light marking/toning is otherwise bright and vivid. The box with a few small knocks, chips and marks and some old, neat repairs to the base is otherwise in very good working order. A beautifully preserved example. A rare and most attractive dissected puzzle produced by Edward Peacock of London, incorporating a colourful alphabet engraving by the renowned publisher of juvenile literature and educational aids, William Darton, and a map of Europe by the mapmaker George Frederick Cruchley.

Edward Peacock, a Baptist minister and carpenter, began to produce his 'Peacock Puzzles' in 1853, having learnt his craft from the well-known publisher and map-dissector Edward Wallis in London during the 1830s. Prior to this, Peacock had travelled to Australia in 1841, becoming a policeman, schoolteacher, missionary, and finally postmaster. Upon his return to England in 1853 he established the company Peacock & Co. making children's furniture, toys and dissected maps. In 1861, his son, William, took over the company, expanding it to become one of the world's leading producers of wooden puzzles.