Bacon’s Jigsaw Map of Ireland. Counties in colour.

A SCARCE EDUCATIONAL JIGSAW MAP OF IRELAND

London: Bacon, [c. 1900]. Printed on paper, mounted on wood and dissected into 12 pieces, with inset map of Dublin and Belfast. Browning to edges, otherwise very good. 205 x 160mm. Rare.
For over two centuries jigsaw puzzles were one of the best loved games with children and adults alike. We are pleased to offer this rare jigsaw puzzles relating to Ireland. The aim of these dissected maps in the words of John Spilsbury who invented them (c.1763), was: “to facilitate the teaching of Geography”.
An attractive and uncommon educational puzzle map of Ireland produced by the celebrated London cartographic publisher George Washington Bacon. Designed both as a geographical teaching aid and as a form of instructive amusement, the map is divided into twelve interlocking wooden sections,
allowing users to assemble the country while becoming familiar with its counties, principal towns, and geographical features.
The counties are distinguished by colour, while inset maps of Dublin and Belfast provide additional detail of Ireland’s two principal urban centres at the turn of the twentieth century.
George Washington Bacon (1830-1922) was among the most successful commercial map publishers of the nineteenth century, producing a wide range of atlases, school maps, educational games, and geographical aids. Because they were manufactured for regular use by children, survival rates are low. Complete examples are consequently uncommon, particularly those retaining good colour and structural integrity. A charming and increasingly scarce survival.