The amount of information about high quality mechanical puzzles seems to be rather limited and hard to find. Here are the publications I have found the most useful so far:
| ID | Title | Authors | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|
| [Coffin85] | Puzzle Craft | Stewart T. Coffin | published by the author, 1985 |
| [Coffin90] | The Puzzling World of Polyhedral Dissections | Stewart T. Coffin | Oxford University Press, 1990, 196p. ISBN 0-19-286133-6 |
| [Cutler78] | The Six-Piece Burr | William H. Cutler | Journal of Recreational Mathematics, Vol 10(4), 1977-78, pp. 241-250 |
| [Cutler88] | Holey 6-Piece Burr! | William H. Cutler | Published by the author, 45p., 2nd printing 1988 |
| [Cutler94] | A Computer Analysis of All 6-Piece Burrs | William H. Cutler | Published by the author, 80p., 1994 |
| [Dewdney85] | Bill's baffling burrs, Coffin's cornucopia, Engel's enigma
Note: In this article the pieces of the burr are not depicted correctly. For a correct version see [Cutler88] or [Coffin90]. |
A. K. Dewdney | Scientific American, Computer Recreations column, Vol 253, Issue 4, Oct. 1985, pp. 16-27 |
| [Filipiak42] | 100 Puzzles, How to Make and Solve Them | Anthony S. Filipiak | A.S Barnes and Company, New York, hb. 120p., 1942 |
| [Gardner78] | Mathematical Games | Martin Gardner | Scientific American, Mathematical Games column, Vol 238, Issue 1. Jan. 1978, pp. 14-26 |
| [Slocum86] | Puzzles Old & New, How to make and solve them | Jerry Slocum, Jack Botermans | University of Washington Press, Seattle, 4th Edition. 1994, 160p., pb., ISBN 0-295-96579-7 |
| [Slocum92] | New Book of Puzzles, 101 Classic and Modern Puzzles to Make and Solve | Jerry Slocum, Jack Botermans | W. H. Freeman, New York, 1992, 128p. , hb., ISBN 0-7167-2356-5 |
| [Slocum94] | The Book of Ingenious & Diabolical Puzzles | Jerry Slocum, Jack Botermans | Times Books, New York, 1994, 152 p., hb., ISBN 0-8129-2153-4 |
| [vanDelft78] | Creative Puzzles of the World | Pieter van Delft, Jack Botermans | Harry N. Abrams, New York. 1978 |
| [Wyatt28] | Puzzles in Wood | Edwin Mather Wyatt | Bruce Publishing Co, Milwaukee, Wisc, 1928; reprinted by Woodcraft Supply Corp, Parkersburg, WV, 1992, 64p. paperback, ISBN 0-918036-09-7 |
| [Wyatt46] | Wonders in Wood | Edwin Mather Wyatt | Bruce Publishing Co, Millwaukee, Wisc, 1946; 76p. paperback |