Classic Cookbook Covers: 1,000-Piece Puzzle features artist Richard Baker’s realistic paintings of classic cookbook covers. Each “book portrait” shows not only the original front cover in detail, but also signs of its passage through time—creases, worn bindings, and all.

There are a few well-known classics but the charm of the puzzle is its unexpected range and eccentricity. And sophistication (The Edna Lewis Cook Book, essential; River Road Recipes, yes, of all the Junior League cookbooks, that’s the one; La Cuisine Creole, a vintage work by the intriguing Lafcadio Hearn; Consider the Oyster by M.F.K. Fisher).

Wait! The Art of Cuisine by Toulouse-Lautrec and Maurice Joyant?

And then there are the delightful sleepers: A Date with a Dish; Love and Knishes; Plum Crazy, A Book About Beach Plums; Elsie’s Cook Book (by Elsie the Cow); Majestic Recipes (price: fifty cents). And a grand tour of the east, from Turkey to India and beyond, and several affectionate nods to New England.

All in all, an original, absorbing, and hugely fun puzzle.

25" x 20"; Puzzle board contains 90% recycled materials; box contains 70% recycled materials; printed with non-toxic inks.