Picture block | alphabet block:Sun Shine Blocks

American manufacturers first produced toy blocks in mass quantities in the mid-19th century. Chromolithography, the process of printing colored images on paper with reusable limestone slabs, enabled printers to cover wooden blocks with vibrant, intricate pictures. In addition to alphabet blocks, chromolithographed picture blocks became popular. Each block contained either a single image or part of a large image, not unlike a puzzle. Popular subjects for picture blocks included animals, soldiers and other patriotic images, nursery-rhyme characters, and religious figures. Manufacturers hoped that the beautiful chromolithography and moralistic themes incorporated into picture blocks would attract not only children but their parents (who controlled the purse strings) as well.