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2007-2010
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Special Editions
There are two distinct
classes of "special" Guinness Book of Records. This page details the
first class, which includes "Christmas" editions that were produced by Guinness
for private distribution, editions sent as promotional gifts by
Guinness, and standard editions that were produced as
"deluxe" (or "soft back") editions for sale to the public.
The second
class consists primarily of private editions that were specially bound for
companies to present to their staff and customers. In general, books in both classes
have cosmetic alterations only - the book's content is the same
as the standard edition published that year. Even so,
dedicated collectors will most certainly be keen to find such
editions to complete their collections. If you know of any other special editions,
please let us know.
| 1955 |
Boxed editions |
 |
|
Edition |
1 and later |
|
Cover |
Green |
|
Notes |
Many copies of the first (and second) edition were
boxed and sent to public houses as promotional material
and some of these survive intact. In 2007 an edition
boxed for Sir Hugh Eyre Campbell Beaver (the founder of
the book) was sold on eBay. |
(Image courtesy of
Simon Taylor)
The copy above right was sent to B. Buckingham Esq., "Royal Oak", Park Road,
Didcot. It was posted on 30th November 1955, at a cost of 1 shilling and 4
pence. |
| 1964/1965 |
Boxed editions |
|
|
|
Editions |
11 and 12 |
|
Notes |
Copies of the editions published in 1964 and 1965 were believed to have been
given to Guinness employees in special presentation boxes (below). |
 |
| 1967 |
The Christmas Guinness Book of Records |
 
|
|
Edition |
14 |
|
Publication Date |
October 1967 |
|
Cover |
Turquoise |
|
Format |
Hardback 10x7½
inches (254x191 mm) |
|
Notes:
-
Many of these
editions included a compliments slip or a "doctor's letter".
The doctor's letter continued the Guinness tradition of
presenting Christmas gifts to doctors in the hope that they
would, in turn, recommend Guinness as a tonic for their
patients. The letter in this edition is dated 10th December
1967, and says:
|
| 1968 |
The Christmas Guinness Book of Records |
|
|
|
Edition |
15 |
|
Publication Date |
October 1968 |
|
Cover |
Grey |
|
Format |
Hardback 10x7½
inches (254x191 mm) |
|
Notes:
- The letter in this edition (dated December 1968) says:
 |
| 1969 |
The Christmas Guinness Book of Records |
 |
|
Edition |
16 (Revised) |
|
Publication Date |
November 1969 |
|
Cover |
Similar to
dust-jacket of standard edition |
|
Format |
Paperback 8⅛x5½
inches (206x141mm) |
|
Notes:
-
The
frontispiece says, "This gift edition has been produced for
private distribution only and is not available to the Book
Trade nor to the general public".
-
The error in
the number of countries in the standard edition has been
fixed.
-
The letter in
this edition (dated December 1969) says:
|
| 1970 |
The Christmas Guinness Book of Records |
 |
|
Edition |
17 |
|
Publication Date |
October 1970 |
|
Cover |
Similar to
standard edition |
|
Format |
Paperback 10x7 inches approx. (252x180mm) |
|
Notes:
-
The
first page says, "This gift edition has been produced for
private distribution only and is not available to the Book
Trade nor to the general public".
-
There are two slightly different
variants of this edition - one has yellow colouring on the spine and a red "The
Christmas" logo on the front cover, the other
has a graduated orange spine and a graduated colour logo on the front cover.
-
We have a copy
with a compliments slip from "Sue Walpole". If anyone knows
if Sue was working for Guinness at the time, please let us
know.
-
The letter in
these copies is dated December 1970, and says:
|
| 1985 |
Deluxe Editions 1986 |
 |
|
Edition |
32 |
|
Cover |
Red with "De
Luxe" dust-jacket |
|
Format |
Hardback 11½x8½
inches (292x216 mm) |
| Copyright |
Guinness Superlatives
Limited |
|
Publishers |
1. Guinness Superlatives
2. Book Club
Associates (Guild
Publishing London) |
|
Notes |
The two editions can be identified by looking at the first inside page. The
Guinness variant has a black background, whilst the Book Club variant has a
white background: |
 |
| 1988 |
Record Holders' Special |
|
Edition |
34 |
|
Notes |
Guinness prepared a dozen copies of the
1988 edition for members of the team that set
a world Pool Endurance Marathon record in 1985, but were
never credited in the book itself. |
|
| 1989 |
The Guinness Book of Records 1990 |
 |
|
Edition |
36 (Limp Edition) |
|
Publication Date |
October 1989 |
|
Cover |
Same as
standard edition |
|
Price New |
£7.95 |
|
ISBN |
0-85112-927-7 |
|
Format |
Paperback 11¾x8¾ inches (298x222mm) |
|
Notes |
There are two slightly different front covers - one with a U.K. price tag and one
without: |
  |
| 2003 |
100,000,000th Edition |
(Image courtesy of Adam Teitge) |
|
Edition |
50 |
|
Notes |
To mark the printing of the 100 millionth copy of the Guinness Book of Records,
a special commemorative copy was produced. Presented in a velvet-lined box, the
book was signed by all of the book's editors (as of 2004) and by 50 or so record
breakers.
To show the provenance of the special edition, Guinness issued a certificate which states
that, "This is the original signed copy of the 100 Millionth Guinness World
Records Book, first published in 1955". |
|
| 2004 |
Pre-production mock-up of the 51st Edition 2005 |
 |
|
Edition |
51 |
|
Notes |
Some copies of the mock-up for the 2005 (50th Anniversary) edition have
survived. As can be seen from the photos, the prototypes have an impressed gold
cover similar to the silver 46th "Millennium"
Edition. For whatever reason (possibly the cost of production), this cover
was dropped in favour of the "holographic" gold cover of the final version.
The mock-up has a subset of the real pages, repeated about 18 times, though the
final pages are very different to the early versions included in
this copy.
The pictures below show the differences between the final
version (left) and mock-up (right). |
 |
| 2005 |
Pre-production mock-up of the 52nd Edition 2006 |
 |
|
Edition |
52 |
|
Notes |
Some copies of the mock-up for the 2006 edition have
survived. The mock-up copies are subtly different to the final production
copies.
The mock-up has a subset of the real pages, repeated about 18 times; the
final pages are subtly different to the early versions included in
this copy.
The pictures below show the differences between the final
version (left) and mock-up (right). |
 |
| 2007 |
Pre-production mock-up of the 54th Edition 2008 |
|
 |
|
Edition |
54 |
|
Notes |
James McConnell sent us a photo of a paperback pre-production mock-up of
the 54th edition. Again, the mock-up has a subset of the real pages - two sets
of 11 pages repeated, and a single fold-out. The picture below shows the differences between the final
version (left) and mock-up (right). |
 |
| 2009 |
"First Edition" Facsimile |
|
 |
|
Publication Date |
October 2009 |
|
Cover |
Green |
|
Price New |
£25.00 |
|
ISBN |
978-1-904994-52-7 |
|
Notes:
- Advertised as a limited edition facsimile (reprint) of the
1st edition from August 1955, five thousand
copies, individually numbered by hand were produced. Actually, whilst the
acknowledgements page matches that of the 1st edition, the rest of the book
appears to be a reprint of the 3rd Edition
(1st Edition, 3rd Impression).
- Each copy has a slip-case with the same design as the book's cover.
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