puzzles became greatly fashionable as well. in 1893, the english lawyer , writing under the pseudonym of professor hoffman, wrote a book called "puzzles old and new". it contained, amongst other things, more than 40 descriptions of puzzles with secret opening mechanisms. this book grew into a reference work for puzzle games and was very popular at the time. the tangram puzzle, originally from china, spread to europe and america in the 19th century.