John Spilsbury

John Spilsbury (/I.P.A. spɪlsbəri/ 1739 – 3 April 1769) was an English cartographer and engraver. He is credited as the inventor of the jigsaw puzzle. Spilsbury created them for educational purposes, and called them "Dissected Maps".

Life and works

John Spilsbury was the second of three sons of Thomas Spilsbury; the engraver Jonathan Spilsbury was his elder brother, and the two have sometimes been confused. He served as an apprentice to Thomas Jefferys, the Royal Geographer to King George III.

Spilsbury advertised himself as an 'engraver and map dissector in wood' in 1763 and is almost certainly the earliest commercial producer of jigsaw puzzles. Madame de Beaumont's 'wooden maps' are referred to in letters sent in 1759 and 1762, predating the sale of Spilsbury's puzzles.

Spilsbury married Sarah May of Newmarket, Suffolk in 1761. After his death she ran his business for a period, then married Harry Ashby who had been apprentice to Spilsbury, and who continued to sell puzzles.