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First release of revised edition, December 2000
[Puzzle World Home] [Introduction] [Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Puzzle Index] [Color Plates]
This is a history and compendium of the puzzles designed and produced by Stewart Coffin. He created it during the past year or so to satisfy the many puzzle collectors who have wanted to know more about his puzzles. As you will read, he is not possessive of his puzzle designs. To the contrary, he generously encourages craftsmen to produce them and improve them.
He created this compendium by cutting and pasting (with scissors and paste!) photocopied drawings and illustrations from his library. In most cases, these drawings exist in the two main versions of Puzzle Craft and in The Puzzling World of Polyhedral Dissections. For this online version, no attempt has been made to include these drawings and illustrations. However, because most of them appear in The Puzzling World of Polyhedral Dissections or the Puzzle World web site, links to them will be included.
When Stewart made The Puzzling World of Polyhedral Dissections available online for free personal use, I encouraged you to drop Stewart a line and thank him for his unselfish gesture. Once again, I encourage you to do so. Stewart prefers that his email address not be made public, so you can send me any thanks or comments and I will see that he gets them.
John Rausch, Editor
Oregonia, Ohio, November 2000
This publication consists of three parts. Part 1 contains some background information and commentary on my puzzle craft not included in any of my previous publications. Part 2 is essentially a chronological listing and description of my AP-ART creations starting at the beginning in 1968 and continuing up to the date of publication. Part 3 contains an appendix (i.e. everything not included in the first two parts). The Puzzle Index is an alphabetical index of all serially numbered puzzles. The Color Plates contain photographs of most of the puzzles.
A preliminary edition of this publication was hastily put together in time for distribution at the International Puzzle Collector's Party (IPP-20) at Los Angeles in August 2000. This revised edition contains a few corrections and much new material. It is anticipated that further revisions will be made.
This is by no means a how-to-do-it manual. Even so, the descriptions given here are probably sufficient for a skilled woodworker to be able to duplicate many of the designs, but only if used in conjunction with the three books of mine that are listed in Part 1. Furthermore, this assumes that you start with the simpler designs and work through them progressively to the more complicated ones. That is the way I did it.
It is not necessary to ask my permission to manufacture and sell any of the designs listed here. I encourage others to become involved in this rewarding and fascinating craft. Unless otherwise indicated, all of these designs are my own creations. Yet you might say that is only partly true, for they are all based on ideas that have evolved over centuries, their origins fading away into the dim and distant past. As far as I am concerned, they can all be regarded as in the public domain.
[Puzzle World Home] [Introduction] [Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Puzzle Index] [Color Plates]
| Puzzle World ©1997-2005 by John Rausch For questions or comments regarding this site, contact the chief metagrobologist: |