Guinness Record Book Collecting

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.

The copy below was sent to Mr. W. C. Kellaway, "The Lamb", Winkton, Christchurch, Hants. on 11th November 1955. The postage cost was 1 shilling and a penny halfpenny (1s 1½d).

We have another copy (below) which was sent to J. A. Taylor Esq., The Crooked Billet, Hook, Basingstoke, Hants. on 18th November 1955. The postage cost was 1 shilling and four pence (1s 4d).

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). Similarly boxed editions from other years may also exist.

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".
The cut, folding and colours of the book's cover are somewhat imprecise.
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.

1988

60,000,000th Copy

Edition

Notes

To mark the printing of the 60 millionth copy of the Guinness Book of Records, a special charity edition was produced.

The book was revealed at HMV in Oxford Street, London on Monday 17th October 1988 (at 11AM). Prior to the launch, Norris McWhirter dressed as a bus conductor and travelled in the World Bus (which held the record for driving on its side wheels) to record-breaking sites in London, picking up special guests on the way.

The 60 millionth copy was signed by Bananarama, 'Nipper' the HMV dog and other guests. It also contains many pages of pre-printed signatures, and a message of congratulations from Princess Anne.

The press release for the launch states that, "The Book will be auctioned in 1989 for Save the Children and Intermediate Technology - the two charities supported by the World Bus".

The World Bus (a London Routemaster double-decker) travelled through 18 countries between November 1988 and December 1989 to set a new record and benefit the chosen charities (see page 116 of Edition 37).

The fourth issue of the Guinness Gold Club newsletter says that, ironically, the book was bought by "the World's greatest salesman" for £60,000.

The 60 millionth copy was rediscovered in 2013, with a dedication to "Gordon from Edna and Jack 30.4.90".

We are lucky enough to have a die-cast corgi model of a London bus with the usual advertising replaced by the words:

HMV * BANANARAMA * WORLD BUS

60,000,000

THE GUINNESS BOOK OF RECORDS.

This was possibly an advertising give-away at the event.

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:

1998

Pre-production mock-up of the 45th Edition 1999

Edition

Notes

The mock-up has a plain white cover to which a paper copy of the final cover has been glued. Inside there is a subset (16) of the real pages, repeated 18 times. No actual record text is present and the final pages are quite different to the versions included in this mock-up.

Our copy was one given to Hasbro as part of some discussions between the two companies. It also contains an information sheet (below, left) with specification details of the final version.

2003

100,000,000th Copy

(Image courtesy of Adam Teitge)

Edition

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

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

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).

2008

Pre-production mock-up of My First Guinness World Records

Notes

This is a mock-up copy of a planned publication entitled, "My First Guinness World Records". Our copy has just 8 pages of content from the 48 expected.

The book does not appear to have been published, but a Japanese edition was published in early 2009.

2008

Pre-production sample of Guinness World Records 2009 Action Sports Edition

Notes

This is a mock-up sample of a planned publication entitled "Guinness World Records Action Sports Edition". Our copy has just 10 pages of sample content.

The full book was never published.

2008

Pre-production sample of Guinness World Records 2009 Music

Notes

This is a mock-up sample of a planned publication entitled "Guinness World Records Music". Our copy has just 10 pages of sample content.

The full book was never published.

2008

Pre-production sample of Guinness World Records 2009 Wheels Edition

Notes

This is a mock-up sample of a planned publication entitled "Guinness World Records Wheels Edition". Our copy has just 10 pages of sample content.

The full book was never published.

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.

2009

Trial covers for the 56th Edition 2010

Edition	56
Notes	A sample of some of the trial covers for the 2010 edition.

2010

Trial cover for the 57th Edition 2011

Edition	57
Notes	A trial cover for the 2011 edition.

2011

Trial cover for the 58th Edition 2012

Edition	58
Notes	A trial cover for the 2012 edition.

2012

Mock-up copy of Guinness World Records Extreme Food

Notes

This booklet by Julian Thomlinson and Phil Woodall was part of a proposed Officially Amazing Graded Reader series.

Our copy of Extreme Food (Level 1 Intermediate B) is a 210x147mm dummy paperback edition with 8 sample pages of the 32 planned.

The series was not commissioned.

2012

Trial copy of Guinness World Records Heroes of Everest

Notes

This booklet by Julian Thomlinson and Phil Woodall was part of a proposed Officially Amazing Graded Reader series.

Our copy of Heroes of Everest (Level 3 Intermediate B) is a 210x147mm paperback booklet with 32 pages of records.

The series was not commissioned.

2012

Test covers for the 59th Edition 2013

Edition	59
Notes	A sample of some of the trial covers for the 2013 edition.

2013

Trial cover for the 60th Edition 2014

Edition	60
Notes	A trial cover for the 2014 edition.

2014

Trial cover for the 61st Edition 2015

Edition	61
Notes	A trial cover for the 2015 edition.

2014

Pre-production mock-up of the 61st Edition 2015

Edition	61
Notes	The mock-up copy of the 2015 edition has a different GWR logo on the front cover, different text on the front and back covers, and has a 32-page subset of the real pages (and some publicity information) repeated 8 times.

2014

Celebrating 60 Years (Diamond Anniversary Special)

Publication Date	November 20th 2014
Price New	£7.99
ISBN	978-1-908843-91-3
Format	Paperback
Dimensions	12x9 inches (303x228 mm)
Pages	128
Copyright	Guinness World Records Limited
Printed In	Germany
Notes	Featuring notable records for every year from 1954 to 2014, and 6 long-standing records.

2015

Guinness World Records Activity & Sticker Book 2016 Blad

Notes

Advertising blad for a proposed 32-page Activity & Sticker Book to be published in September 2015. Described as "a hands-on companion to the GWR 2016 book" with fun puzzles, quizzes, stickers and do-at-home challenges.

The book was not published.

2015

Pre-production mock-up of the 62nd Edition 2016

Edition	62
Notes	The mock-up copy of the 2016 edition has a slightly different title orientation on the front cover, different text on the back cover, and has a 16-page subset of the real pages (and some publicity information) repeated 16 times.

2016

Pre-production mock-up of the 63rd Edition 2017

Edition	63
Format	Hardback 304x228mm
Notes	The mock-up copy of the 2017 edition has a 16-page subset of the real pages (and some publicity information) repeated 16 times. We also have the soft-covered blad for the 2017 edition.

2016

Mock-up of the 63rd Edition 2017

Format	Paperback 270x200mm
Notes	This mock-up copy of the 2017 edition has a 16-page subset of the real pages (and some publicity information) repeated 16 times.

2017

Pre-production copy of the 2018 US edition

ISBN	978-1-910561-88-1
Format	Paperback 297x220mm
Pages	255
Notes	This is a paperback copy of the 2018 US edition which does not appear to have reached publication.

2017

Pre-production sample of Guinness World Records 2018 Animal Antics

Notes

This is a mock-up sample of a planned publication entitled "Guinness World Records Animal Antics". Our copy has just 9 pages of sample content.

The full book was never published.

2017

Pre-production sample of Guinness World Records 2018 Football Edition

Notes

This is a mock-up sample of a planned publication entitled "Guinness World Records Football Edition". Our copy has just 9 pages of sample content.

The full book was never published.

2017

Mock-ups of Guinness World Records Science and Stuff 2018

Format	Paperback 264x190mm
Notes	These mock-up copies of Guinness World Records Science and Stuff 2018 have a small number of different sample pages.

2018

Mock-up of the 65th Edition 2017

Format	Paperback 297x220mm
Notes	This mock-up copy of the 2019 edition has a 16-page subset of the real pages (and some publicity information) repeated 16 times.

2018

65th Edition 2019 (Sainsbury's)

Edition	65
Notes	"Exclusively at Sainsbury's" edition with an additional "Make Your Own Record Selector" pull-out (right).

2019

Pre-production mock-up of Guinness World Records Extraordinary Women

Notes

This is a mock-up copy of a planned publication entitled, "Guinness World Records Extraordinary Women". Our copy has just 9 pages of content from the 124 expected.

The book does not appear to have been published.

2020

Guinness World Records 2020 Bite Sized sampler

Format	148x104 mm booklet
Notes	Not for resale bite-sized preview of the 2020 edition, consisting of miniaturised copies of pages 202, 203, 220, 221, 148, 149, 44, 45, 70, 71, 74, 75, 86 and 87. The inside front and rear pages show the covers of previous editions, with the question, "Which editions do you own?". It describes itself as "the smallest version of the World's biggest-selling annual book".

2020

Pre-production mock-up of the 67th Edition 2021

Edition	67
Notes	This mock-up copy of the 2021 edition has the pages from the 2020 edition and a subtly different front cover artwork. We also have the soft-covered blad for the 2021 edition.

2021

Pre-release advertising blad for the 68th Edition 2022

Edition	68
Notes	This advertising blad shows the cover of the 2022 edition (prior to final artwork changes). It has 15 sample pages (repeated twice) and one repeated page describing the new edition.