Assorted wooden yellow trick boxes and an ornately turned puzzle box. Although these are not particularly complicated in comparison with the elaborate four to 10 step Asian trick boxes, they would have delighted children. Finding the right place to twist open the beautifully turned boxes is a challenge and even after a century of use it is still difficult to see.

William Everard Lucy (1860-1939), who had a similar set to these from the Gilbert Family collection, delighted in tricks and puzzles of all kinds. He had a collection of books about puzzles, tricks, magic and conjuring, including Hoffmann's Mechanical puzzles.

Opie, Iona. The treasures of childhood: books, toys and games from the Opie collection, London: Pavilion, 1989

Hoffmann, Professor. Arithmetical puzzles, London: F. Warne & Co., [1895?]

Hoffmann, Professor (Ed.) Every boy's book of sport and pastime, London: G. Routledge and Sons, 1897

Hoffmann, Professor. Mechanical puzzles, London; New York: F. Warne, [ca 1898?]

Hoffmann, Professor. Miscellaneous puzzles, London; New York: F. Warne, [ca 1898?]

State Library of South Australia: Children's Literature Research Collection. The Lucy Collection

Cleverwood: Articles about mechanical puzzles