E.J.Arnold & Son

E.J.Arnold & Son is another UK Company with it’s roots firmly set in the history books having been founded in the 19th Century in Barnstaple before moving to Leeds in 1870. At its inception the company focussed on supplying books, games and apparatus to schools, later expanding to include globes, abacuses and jigsaw puzzles. There isn’t a great deal of information available about the products because the aim was to supply schools rather than the domestic marketplace and so, catalogues which are available tend to be extensive ranges of everything needed to equip a school and form long lists rather than colourful images to lure parents to purchase. We have sourced an undated E.J.Arnold educational catalogue however, and this lists some of the puzzles included in this section. From the language used, which lists ‘Omnibus’ within the ‘Modern Transport’ puzzle section, we can deduce that buses were a relatively new concept taking over from the horse and cart, so likely dating the catalogue to the period between WW1 and WW2. Some of the transport puzzles that were probably manufactured during this era can be seen below, which shows 3 puzzles absent of any branding. The Steam Train with the nameplate Bon Accord (this loco was brought into production in 1949) is a later version and bares the E.J.Arnold branding. It is also possible to see the move from jigsaws being made upon wooden trays to the later more modern design of jigsaws being made within their own self contained tray.