Dissected Puzzles in Jane Austen's World

by Anita Mae Draper

Wallis's New Dissected Map of World, published June 25, 1812. Library of Congress Geography and Map Division, Public Domain

Can you believe that shaped 'jigsaw' puzzles like the one in this image have been around for over 200 years and are even mentioned in a Jane Austen novel? It's true. Called dissected puzzles, they are credited to John Spilsbury, a British cartographer who was once an apprentice to Thomas Jefferys, the Royal Geographer to King George III. In 1766, six years after his apprenticeship ended, Spilsbury began publishing puzzle maps featuring the World, Europe, Asia, Africa, America, England and Wales, Ireland, and Scotland. 

Europe divided into its kingdoms, etc. Creator John Spilsbury, 1766. Wikipedia, Public Domain

Lady Charlotte Finch, governess to King George III's children who included the future George IV and William IV, saw the value of Spilsbury's dissected maps and used them to teach her charges about the world they lived in at the time. To keep the pieces together, she had a special 14-drawer cabinet made which is referred to as Lady Finch's puzzle cabinet. 

King George, Lady Finch's Puzzle Cabinet. Courtesy of © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

In 1801, Practical Education Vol. I. by Maria and R. L. Edgeworth was published for J. Johnson, St. Paul's Church-Yard, London. The first of three volumes, it taught a hands' on approach to learning in addition to the current thought of reading and writing only.  

"...Whoever has watched children putting together a dissected map, must have been amused with the trial between wit and judgement. The child who quickly perceives resemblances catches instantly at the first bit of the wooden map, that has a single hook or hollow that seems likely to answer his purpose; he makes twenty different trials before he hits upon the right combination; whilst the wary youth, who has been accustomed to observe differences, cautiously examines with his eye the whole outline before his hand begins to move; and, having exactly compared the two indentures, he joins them with sober confidence, more proud of never disgracing his judgment by a fruitless attempt, than ambitious of rapid success. He is slow, but sure, and wins the day."

Practical Education Vol 1 - Maria Edgeworth, Richard Lovell Edgeworth, 1801. Public Domain

The text mentions a hook or hollow on a puzzle piece. John Spilsbury layered his printed maps on thin sheets of wood, and then would have used a fretsaw, a mid-16th century invention, to work around the curves and corners, and intricate hooks and hollows, to create the puzzle. Today we call them jigsaw puzzles and it's ironic to note that most are printed on cardboard and don't need a jigsaw, fretsaw, or scroll saw to cut apart the interlocking pieces. 

Jane Austen, novelist. Public Domain

In 1814, Jane Austen's Mansfield Park was published. It's the story of poor Fanny Price, a young girl sent to live with her mother's sister who married well and lives a rich life. Fanny hasn't had the educational advantages of her snobbish cousins who don't hide their thoughts or feelings where Fanny is concerned. At one point we read, "Dear mama, only think, my cousin cannot put the map of Europe together—or my cousin cannot tell the principal rivers in Russia—or, she never heard of Asia Minor—or she does not know the difference between water-colours and crayons!—How strange!—Did you ever hear anything so stupid?"

It is a fair assumption that Fanny's cousins had had the advantage of playing with dissected maps among their other toys, educational or otherwise, since the puzzles had already been circulating around England some forty-odd years by the time Mansfield Park was written and first published.

During this time of turmoil when we adjust our lives to physical distancing, it's interesting to note that jigsaw puzzles are fashionable once again with some stores having trouble keeping them in stock. As a jigsaw puzzle lover, I can attest to their appeal. And after writing a western adaptation of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, I can truly say that I appreciate her more every time I read her work. She is a classic.

Have you read Mansfield Park? Did you catch the reference to putting a map of Europe together? Do you like dissected puzzles? 

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Anita Mae Draper served a 20-year term working on air bases in the communication trade of the Canadian Armed Forces before retiring to the open skies of the prairies. She uses her experience and love of history to pepper her stories of yesteryear's romance with realism as well as faith. Anita Mae Draper's published stories appear in Barbour Publishing, WhiteFire Publishing, and Guideposts Books. Readers can enrich their story experience with visual references by checking out Anita's Pinterest boards. All links available on her website at www.anitamaedraper.com 

The David Rumsey Historical Map Collection

By J. M. Hochstetler

I’ve loved maps ever since my geography, history, and social studies classes in grade school. I’d often draw and trace maps just for the fun of it, and I’m still fascinated by them. Which is a good thing since I depend a lot on historical maps in writing my novels. So when I discovered the David Rumsey Historical Map Collection while doing research for my American Patriot Series, I was thrilled.

Tennassee Government, Gilbert Imlay, 1797

David Rumsey is president of Cartography Associates, a digital publishing company based in San Francisco. In addition to a whole lot of other impressive experience and involvements, he’s also chairman of Luna Imaging, which provides enterprise software for online image collections. In 1980, after making a fortune in real estate, Rumsey—who clearly is even more fascinated with maps than I am—began to collect 18th- and 19th century maps of North and South America, the era during which modern cartography began. Eventually he expanded the collection to rare 16th though 21st century maps of America, North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Pacific, Arctic, Antarctic, and the World. Then in 1995 he decided to make his collection available to the public by building the online David Rumsey Historical Map Collection. It now contains over 150,000 maps and other cartographic items and is one of the largest private map collections in the world, with maps that can be used to study history, explorations, genealogy, and art.

David Rumsey Map Center

Rumsey donated the entire collection to Stanford University in 2009; it’s been housed in the David Rumsey Map Center in the university’s main library since 2016. The website continues as a separate resource for the public. Over 82,000 maps have been digitized and made available there, along with downloadable viewers from Luna Imaging. The most popular is the LUNA browser, which enables users to view the collection, zoom into details, and create slide shows, presentations, and more without any special plug-ins or software. Users can search through about 60,000 maps with a MapRank tool, and a helpful new Georeferencer tool allows for georectification of any of the maps in the collection.

Largest Early World Map - Monte's 10 ft. Planisphere of 1587

The website also offers a blog that lists new additions to the collection, featured maps, news, videos, and related sites. In addition around 1,000 maps can be accessed through Google Earth layers, while selected ones are featured in the Rumsey Maps Island on the virtual world Second Life, as well as in 2D and 3D GIS. If you love maps or are doing research and need a map of just about any place and time, this amazing collection is just what you’re looking for!

Are you a map lover like I am? Or do they drive you crazy—literally—when you’re trying to decipher how to get from one place to another? What about our most common navigational device, GPS systems like Google maps? Love ’em or hate ’em? Share your experiences and frustrations—I totally understand!

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J. M. Hochstetler is the daughter of Mennonite farmers and a lifelong student of history. She is also an author, editor, and publisher. Her American Patriot Series is the only comprehensive historical fiction series on the American Revolution. Northkill, Book 1 of the Northkill Amish Series coauthored with Bob Hostetler, won Foreword Magazine’s 2014 Indie Book of the Year Bronze Award for historical fiction. Book 2, The Return, received the 2017 Interviews and Reviews Silver Award for Historical Fiction and was named one of Shelf Unbound’s 2018 Notable Indie Books. One Holy Night, a contemporary retelling of the Christmas story, was the Christian Small Publishers 2009 Book of the Year and a finalist in the Carol Award.

Signs, Maps, and Rand McNally plus a GIVEAWAY

It's easy in a day and age when most everything is geared toward convenience that we don't really think about the beginnings of those conveniences. I thought I'd talk about one of those things we take for granted. Road signs and maps.

One would think that road signs were a fairly modern thing. At the oldest perhaps the 19th century. After all we've all seen those old wood poles with about 10 arrows nailed on them and a city written on each arrow. 

Rome Marker
By Júlio Reis - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=934562

But road markers are much older than that. Let's go back to ancient Rome. The ancients Romans who are so famous for their aqueducts and bath houses among a few of their architectural feats were the some of the first in the western world to make road markers which they called milestones. They used tall columns to communicate information to people as they traveled down the road. The milestones would indicate how far they were from Rome and it also gave them information on directions to the city.  

William Rand and Andrew McNally
Public Domain Wiki

Now lets jump forward to  the 19th century and William Rand who started working for the Chicago Tribune in 1859. Shortly after he took in an Irishman named Andrew McNally to help me for a weekly pay of $9 which was a pretty good amount of money for the time. By 1868 the two men had done so well they bought out the Tribune's contracts and went out on their own to start their own business. 

Trains were covering the country bringing people and supplies from coast to coast and Rand and McNally saw a good opportunity. They turned their attention to the needs of the ever growing railway. They printed tickets as well as the timetables needed for the railway. Within two years they were doing railroad guides, business directories, and a newspaper.

The 1871 great fire of Chicago nearly put the two men out of business, but the quick thinking of Rand saved their business. He managed to save two of the ticket printing machines. The two men took the machines to McNally's home where they buried them in the sand on Lake Michigan in hopes to protect them from not only the fire but also the heat and debris. Three days later the men were back in business at a rented office. 

After the Chicago Fire

In 1872 Rand McNally publishes its first map in the December issue of the Railway Guide. In 1904 they publish the first automobile road map of the New York City area.

Rand sold his interest in 1899 and in 1905 McNally died. The business passed to his son. But the world was quickly changing and automobiles were becoming more and more popular making a need for a better signage. A group of car owners met at the Waldorf Astor Hotel in New York City and formed a car club. Other car clubs around the country formed. Suddenly there was a need for signs on major roadways.

All these car clubs put up their own signs, so in some places there were a dozen signs telling people the same thing. The popularity of the car clubs also brought the need for road maps but imagine trying to make a road map when 1 road may have twelve names. Yikes! Talk about confusing. 

The Department of Transportation wanted more standardized signs to make traveling less confusing. Rand McNally, on a map of Peoria Illinois debuts a new highway sign system. That system became the model for the system that was used all over the United States. Rand McNally once again saw a need that moved beyond the map industry. In 1924 the company publishes the Rand McNally Auto Chum which is the first edition of what will become the Rand McNally Road Atlas.

A few more interesting tidbits.

The first electric traffic signal was in 1914 in Cleveland.
The first stop sign was put up in 1915 in Detroit.
In 1918 the first state to put up the official route signs was Wisconsin.
In 1920 Detroit put up the first three-colored traffic signal.
 
GIVEAWAY:
I'm giving away a copy of choice of one of Shattered Memories or my medieval, Sword of Forgiveness. Tell me a fun story about you and maps, signs, or roads or something about the post for a chance to win. Don't forget to leave your email address. Share on FB or Twitter for an extra entry.

After the death of her cruel father, Brithwin is determined never again to live under the harsh rule of any man. Independent and resourceful, she longs to be left alone to manage her father's estate. But she soon discovers a woman has few choices when the king decrees she is to marry Royce, the Lord of Rosencraig. As if the unwelcome marriage isn't enough, her new husband accuses her of murdering his family, and she is faced with a challenge of either proving her innocence or facing possible execution.

Royce Warwick returns home after setting down a rebellion to find his family brutally murdered. When all fingers point to his betrothed and attempts are made on his life, Royce must wade through murky waters to uncover the truth. Yet Brithwin's wise and kind nature begins to break down the walls of his heart, and he soon finds himself in a race to discover who is behind the evil plot before Brithwin is the next victim. Purchase here.

NOW AVAILABLE IN AUDIO HERE!

Debbie Lynne has enjoyed writing stories since she was eight years old. She raised her family and then embarked on her own career of writing the stories that had been begging to be told. She and her husband have four children and live in upstate South Carolina. She has worked in many capacities in her church and is currently the Children’s director. Debbie Lynne has shown and raised Shetland sheepdogs for eighteen years and still enjoys litters now and then. In their spare time, She and her husband enjoy camping and riding their Arabian and Tennessee Walking horses. Visit Debbie Lynne at www.debbielynnecostello.com
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