Hamley Bros. London Rare c. 1880 "Dissected Map" of the World Puzzle in Original Box gouache on pith the birds a great mix

the birds a great mix of familiar and exotic

It is accompanied by botanical notes about the Yellow Water Lily

or as a paperweight

with an explosion of creative advertising campaigns surrounding it--and

almost like cells on a storyboard reading from right to left

Hamley Bros. London Rare c. 1880 "Dissected Map" of the World Puzzle in Original Box gouache on pith the birds a great mixThis is a rare one, and in fact I can't find its exact match, but there were others similar produced in both London and the United States by other companies, which help date to about 1880, maybe a few years earlier. What I've learned is that "dissected maps" (lithography maps mounted to wood and cut into pieces) were one of the earliest types of educational tools for children, used in early kindergarten, and among the first iterations of the jig saw