Guinness Record Book Collecting

As well as the Guinness Book of Records and associated publications, collectors are often interested in related paraphernalia. We have (or know of) many such items, so we'll exhibit a few on this page if there is no natural place for them elsewhere on our site.

As far as we know, Guinness Superlatives sent Christmas cards to contributors, collectors and others every year. We have a few of these, the best of which are the following:

Thanks to Iain McWhirter, we have discovered that Guinness Superlatives produced some special editions for Norris and Ross McWhirter between 1972 and 1975. The images below show the 4 editions that were produced. We believe that other directors of Guinness Superlatives may have received copies, but these are undoubtedly very rare copies indeed.

In June 1984, the Guinness World of Records exhibition opened at the Trocadero in Piccadilly, London. The exhibition was one of a number of similar shows around the world and, as well as featuring world records, included a section dedicated to British achievements. When it opened, entry was £2.50 for adults and £1.50 for children though additional revenue was, of course, brought in by selling promotional items and books in the exhibition shop.

As well as a number of souvenir brochures from the exhibition (1984, 1987, 1989 and 1993) we have some related items:

In the late 1970s (possibly 1978), Guinness Superlatives started a reference service in conjunction with James Service Limited. Entitled "The Guinness Bank of Knowledge", the service offered a telephone information line for journalists from "newspapers, magazines, radio and television". A call to the service would put the journalist in touch with an expert who would draw on his knowledge (and information from the Guinness Book of Records and the Guinness Book of Answers) to answer questions in 34 subject areas. It appeared that many of the experts were, in fact, the authors of the Guinness Facts & Feats series of books.

Collectors of beer mats (tegestologists) have a wide range of Guinness beer mats to collect. In the early 1960s, Guinness produced some beer mats celebrating "5 Million Guinness daily" and "Guinness - Him Strong", which had records from the Guinness Book of Records on the reverse.

A number of stamps - and first day covers - related to the Guinness Book of Records (and to records themselves) have been produced over the years. We have a selection of these and there are others available, so this is an interesting part of collecting record-related items:

1990 - First Day Cover from Russia depicting the 1988 Guinness Book of Records (the first year that the book was published in Russia).
1996 - First Day Cover from Switzerland dated June 27th 1996, celebrating a record set that day for the "largest living stamp".
1996 - A different First Day Cover from Switzerland dated June 27th 1996, with additional record information.
1996 - Special card from Switzerland commemorating the same event as the first day covers above.
1997 - First Day Cover from New Zealand dated 12th October 1997, celebrating the "World's Most Southern Winery".
2001 - Miniature sheet with a Gibraltar stamp celebrating the Queen's 75th birthday (issued 12th November 2001)
2002 - "Reptiles" miniature sheet from the British Virgin Islands (issued June 17th 2002).
2002 - Miniature sheet from the British Virgin Islands - "Smallest Lizard".
2002 - "Mammals" miniature sheet from South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.
2002 - Miniature sheet from South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands - "Largest live Pinniped".
2002 - "Planet Earth" miniature sheet from Tristan da Cunha (Longest reef, biggest island, biggest desert, longest rivers, highest mountain and most remote inhabited island).
2002 - Miniature sheet from Tristan da Cunha - the "World's most remote inhabited island".
2007 - First Day Cover from New Zealand dated 10th October 2007, again celebrating the "World's Most Southern Winery".
2008 - Sheet produced for the "fastest printing of a postage stamp" on 29th June, 2008 by the Austrian postal service (UEFA Euro 2008 Championship).

Throughout its history, Guinness has been extremely good at marketing its products, both for itself or in association with others. Guinness Superlatives, and latterly Guinness World Records, have also been very active in this area. We have accumulated a few items produced for promotional purposes, and some of these will be documented here.

Le Livre des Records Playing Cards - produced by Lacroix Associates (Quebec) to advertise Gros Gin Geneva "As de Pique" ("Ace of Spades"). Each card has a recipe for a Gin-based cocktail and a record from the Denoël Livre des Records. Date unknown, but the records appear to be from the 1975 edition.
Guinness Book of World Records 1957 - 1997 - enamel badge of unknown origin. The badge shows the cover of the 36th US Edition from 1996.
Guinness World Records Globe - number of globes were produced by Guinness World Records for different markets. We know of globes for the USA, UK and elsewhere. Ours is a 12" globe, produced for the UK by Tecnodidattica Ligure S.p.A. in Italy (date unknown).
Brauerei Reichold - Limited edition model Scania truck (No. 8 by Grell Werbemittel, Bielefeld) with Guinness World Records 2001 logo.
Brauerei Reichold - Model Magirus Sirius truck (No. 46 by Grell Werbemittel, Bielefeld) with Guinness World Records 2004 logo.
Brauerei Reichold - Model Faun L8 truck (No. 49 by Grell Werbemittel, Bielefeld) with Guinness World Records 2004 book.
Guinness World Records Yo-Yo - believed to be from 2006.
Bedlam Cube - Guinness World Records Day, 9th November 2006. Danny Bamping assembled the 13-piece Bedlam Cube puzzle in 11.03 seconds.

School Prizes

The Guinness Book of Records was rightly regarded as a serious reference book in its earlier years. As a result, many schools in the 1950s, 60s and 70s chose the book as one of the awards in the end of year prize-giving. We know of several people who received the book as a prize during their school years.

Some schools embossed their copies with the school badge and motto, and a small number of these have appeared on auction sites and in second-hand bookshops. One such copy is a 1958 edition with a school badge embossed in gold on the front cover. The badge (pictured right) shows a heron, with the motto "Abeunt Studia in Mores" underneath. Some research shows that this is likely to have come from Wanstead High School in London.

In addition to the above copy, Bruce Read has a 1968 edition (left) from Deacon's School in Peterborough (now the Thomas Deacon Academy). Inside, a certificate shows that the book was awarded by the headmaster to K Clarke (form 5) on the school's speech day in 1969.

If you know of any other school editions, please let us know.