Giant Format

Waddington’s started their Giant 439 piece jigsaw range in the 1930’s, initially priced at 1/-. On the boxes they boasted that ‘The size of this puzzle is the largest on the market, being 21” x 15” ‘. They came in boxes printed in yellow and red to look like a leather bound book.

Other "Special" puzzles such as those portraying the 1937 Coronation and the 1938 Empire Exhibition in Glasgow also had the same format.

Later puzzles (after no. 78) were packed in smaller square boxes with an "Up to the Minute" logo and the price increased to 1/6 when purchase tax was introduced in 1940.

See also the Interlock range, which came in matching packaging but were presented in a smaller format.

Many thanks to Jerry Mortimore for supplying the details and first examples of some of the large number of puzzles in this range.

Information and photos from Barbara Middlestorb's archives has also been added to give a more-or-less complete list of the puzzle in these two series.