In the 1760s, a London mapmaker John Spilsbury pasted a map onto a thin piece of wood, and cut it up with a scroll saw. England would be one piece, Germany would be another.

He marketed these to very affluent and influential people as a tool to teach their children geography.

During the Great Depression, jigsaw puzzles became highly popular as entertainment and employment.

With so many people without work, they would buy a scroll saw and a jigsaw, make jigsaw puzzles in their kitchen or basement, and sell them to their neighbors, or rent them ...