Assembly, analysis, and research inspired by the Victory Artistic series puzzle Caxton’s Workshop, and a Super-Cut series one called Drawing the Covert. (about 6100 words; 32 pictures)
Thanks for this, Bill. Even to my less-experienced-than-yours eye form things wooden puzzle related, i think I can detect some degree of difference between the early Hayter puzzles you discussed in your last posting and the ones I’m seeing and reading about today. I guess Hayter had more sophisticated equipment at his disposal.
It is a coincidence that I just finished reading “The Truth” which was the 25th fantasy novel in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series. As I believe you will know, the Discworld books tend to make satirical allusion to actual human society and history. Well, “The Truth” was full of such allusions to the invention of the printing press and the rise of news journalism. In any case, one of the fantasy characters who is a key inventor in the medium of movable type and presses is a dwarf named Mr. Goodmountain. The German name Gutenberg means “Good Mountain.” Other key characters in the novel are William de Worde and his father Lord de Worde. I had known that Johannes Gutenberg was the real-life printing-press pioneer, but I hadn’t realized that de Worde was a true name associated with the history of early European printing.
On a different tack, another something I’ve been wondering about is when wooden-puzzle makers may have started to coordinate the themes of figural pieces with the themes of the the pictures on their puzzles. I’ve seen figurals in some of your many postings that seemed to be so coordinated, but if you’ve even reported on who pioneered that “resonance,” I have forgotten.
The whole story of Caxton’s workshops is interesting; but, in terms of the Caxton picture and the one used for the other puzzle featured today, I do prefer the picture used for “Drawing the Covert.”
I like seeing the way red coats “pop” in that puzzle. I also remember Dudley Do-Right, and was surprised to see him make an appearance in your posting.
Thanks, Greg. I don't think that changes to the Hayter puzzles over time were due too much to technological improvements, except for the printing. As I understand it there have been some improvements to scroll saws over the years, especially the development of better sawblades, but the big differences in the cutting of Victory puzzles over time probably came from simplifications that the companies allowed the piece-work cutters to make in their cutting patterns. I have one more essay coming up in this series, and as you will see, the most striking thing is the extent that Victory puzzles stayed basically the same over such a long time.
I love the Terry Pratchett books and have a puzzle on my to-do pile that perfectly fits the images in my mind of Discworld (based on the books' cover art.) I'll loan it to you and Beth after I get around to doing it myself. If you want a sneak preview, the puzzle is Malédiction made by Stumpcraft.
I don't know when or who first began to use figure pieces that were appropriate to the theme of the image but I suspect it might have been quite a while ago, possibly for a children's puzzle in the 19th century. American puzzle historian Bob Armstrong credits Parker Bros' Pastime Puzzles with being the first to put appropriate figural pieces in a location on the image that is suitable. (He shows an example of a heart-shape piece being located where a man's heart would be in the image on a puzzle made in 1910.)
I agree that of those two images I prefer Drawing the Covert, but that led me into feeling I needed to justify my liking puzzles that glorify fox hunting. There are lots of times when the images seem somewhat uncomfortable. In my next newsletter there will be a puzzle called The Slave Market!
Thanks for this, Bill. Even to my less-experienced-than-yours eye form things wooden puzzle related, i think I can detect some degree of difference between the early Hayter puzzles you discussed in your last posting and the ones I’m seeing and reading about today. I guess Hayter had more sophisticated equipment at his disposal.
It is a coincidence that I just finished reading “The Truth” which was the 25th fantasy novel in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series. As I believe you will know, the Discworld books tend to make satirical allusion to actual human society and history. Well, “The Truth” was full of such allusions to the invention of the printing press and the rise of news journalism. In any case, one of the fantasy characters who is a key inventor in the medium of movable type and presses is a dwarf named Mr. Goodmountain. The German name Gutenberg means “Good Mountain.” Other key characters in the novel are William de Worde and his father Lord de Worde. I had known that Johannes Gutenberg was the real-life printing-press pioneer, but I hadn’t realized that de Worde was a true name associated with the history of early European printing.
On a different tack, another something I’ve been wondering about is when wooden-puzzle makers may have started to coordinate the themes of figural pieces with the themes of the the pictures on their puzzles. I’ve seen figurals in some of your many postings that seemed to be so coordinated, but if you’ve even reported on who pioneered that “resonance,” I have forgotten.
The whole story of Caxton’s workshops is interesting; but, in terms of the Caxton picture and the one used for the other puzzle featured today, I do prefer the picture used for “Drawing the Covert.”
I like seeing the way red coats “pop” in that puzzle. I also remember Dudley Do-Right, and was surprised to see him make an appearance in your posting.
Cheers,
Greg
Thanks, Greg. I don't think that changes to the Hayter puzzles over time were due too much to technological improvements, except for the printing. As I understand it there have been some improvements to scroll saws over the years, especially the development of better sawblades, but the big differences in the cutting of Victory puzzles over time probably came from simplifications that the companies allowed the piece-work cutters to make in their cutting patterns. I have one more essay coming up in this series, and as you will see, the most striking thing is the extent that Victory puzzles stayed basically the same over such a long time.
I love the Terry Pratchett books and have a puzzle on my to-do pile that perfectly fits the images in my mind of Discworld (based on the books' cover art.) I'll loan it to you and Beth after I get around to doing it myself. If you want a sneak preview, the puzzle is Malédiction made by Stumpcraft.
I don't know when or who first began to use figure pieces that were appropriate to the theme of the image but I suspect it might have been quite a while ago, possibly for a children's puzzle in the 19th century. American puzzle historian Bob Armstrong credits Parker Bros' Pastime Puzzles with being the first to put appropriate figural pieces in a location on the image that is suitable. (He shows an example of a heart-shape piece being located where a man's heart would be in the image on a puzzle made in 1910.)
I agree that of those two images I prefer Drawing the Covert, but that led me into feeling I needed to justify my liking puzzles that glorify fox hunting. There are lots of times when the images seem somewhat uncomfortable. In my next newsletter there will be a puzzle called The Slave Market!