Cragside Library Northern Picture Puzzle Exchange 180pc Pier at Elwesmes 12pt5x8in adj
Cragside Library/Club or Northern Picture Puzzle Exchange Made by BEA 180pc The Pier at Ewesmes by A (?) Brun (I really can't read this!), 12.5x8.5in. You can see the suggestion of metal-corner reinforcements on the box.
The club rules, with hire rates for three sizes of puzzles are shown. 100-300pc 1s/week; 350-500pc 1s6d/week; 550-1000pc 2s/week.
All subscriptions (weekly, monthly or quarterly) were paid in advance and borrowers paid postage charges to and from the library (recorded in a book and billed monthly). Monthly and quarterly subscribers could change their jigsaws as often as they wished. Borrowers signed a paper record (the reverse of the rules) to say the jigsaw was complete when returned - each missing piece was charged at 1s. See the other collage.
BCD Magazine Issue Spring 2017 no123 pg3 (& 124 pg14) gave an article about the library and the manager/cutter David Dippie Dixon based on information gathered by Martin & Frances Harper from National Trust contact Linda Willis. It isn't clear if the initiative for founding the library was Dixon's or that of the Armstrong's. Dixon was a local historian/author whose drapery/grocery business folded, but became the Cragside archivist/librarian for Lord Armstrong aged 69 in exchange for a year's free rent on a farm cottage. At this time (1911) the first jigsaw craze had recently started in the USA (1907-10). Linda Willis supplied a full list of the 98 jigsaws remaining at Cragside and owned by the NT. The identity of the cutter named on the label BEA is unknown.
Nicki's entry for this library in the research document:
Northern Picture Puzzle Exchange or Cragside Jigsaw Club 1910’s to1930’s
Run by: David Dippie Dixon
Cut by: David Dippie Dixon
Location: Run from Lord and Lady Armstrong’s home, Cragside, Rothbury, Northumberland (now NT) by David Dixon who was his Lordship’s librarian and archivist, and who worked there from 1911 until his death in 1929. The club clearly continued after his death into the 1930s.
Box: Brown card with details of puzzle on top. Inside a list of rules and hire charges. ...The lenders record their name on the reverse of the rules paper or on a separate included sheet.
Cut: push-fit and finely cut on quality ply.
Example:
“The Pier at Euresmes “180 pieces 12.5” x 8.5”
Comments: 98 examples are still held at Cragside. The lending number in the club originally ran to ca 1000 puzzles.
Cragside Library Northern Picture Puzzle Exchange 180pc Pier at Elwesmes 12pt5x8in adj
Cragside Library/Club or Northern Picture Puzzle Exchange Made by BEA 180pc The Pier at Ewesmes by A (?) Brun (I really can't read this!), 12.5x8.5in. You can see the suggestion of metal-corner reinforcements on the box.
The club rules, with hire rates for three sizes of puzzles are shown. 100-300pc 1s/week; 350-500pc 1s6d/week; 550-1000pc 2s/week.
All subscriptions (weekly, monthly or quarterly) were paid in advance and borrowers paid postage charges to and from the library (recorded in a book and billed monthly). Monthly and quarterly subscribers could change their jigsaws as often as they wished. Borrowers signed a paper record (the reverse of the rules) to say the jigsaw was complete when returned - each missing piece was charged at 1s. See the other collage.
BCD Magazine Issue Spring 2017 no123 pg3 (& 124 pg14) gave an article about the library and the manager/cutter David Dippie Dixon based on information gathered by Martin & Frances Harper from National Trust contact Linda Willis. It isn't clear if the initiative for founding the library was Dixon's or that of the Armstrong's. Dixon was a local historian/author whose drapery/grocery business folded, but became the Cragside archivist/librarian for Lord Armstrong aged 69 in exchange for a year's free rent on a farm cottage. At this time (1911) the first jigsaw craze had recently started in the USA (1907-10). Linda Willis supplied a full list of the 98 jigsaws remaining at Cragside and owned by the NT. The identity of the cutter named on the label BEA is unknown.
Nicki's entry for this library in the research document:
Northern Picture Puzzle Exchange or Cragside Jigsaw Club 1910’s to1930’s
Run by: David Dippie Dixon
Cut by: David Dippie Dixon
Location: Run from Lord and Lady Armstrong’s home, Cragside, Rothbury, Northumberland (now NT) by David Dixon who was his Lordship’s librarian and archivist, and who worked there from 1911 until his death in 1929. The club clearly continued after his death into the 1930s.
Box: Brown card with details of puzzle on top. Inside a list of rules and hire charges. ...The lenders record their name on the reverse of the rules paper or on a separate included sheet.
Cut: push-fit and finely cut on quality ply.
Example:
“The Pier at Euresmes “180 pieces 12.5” x 8.5”
Comments: 98 examples are still held at Cragside. The lending number in the club originally ran to ca 1000 puzzles.