Guinness Book History 1950 - Present
1955 Guinness Book


B e g i n n i n g

The Guinness Book of Records is the biggest-selling copyrighted book of all time, according to Publisher, Young, with 92 million books sold since 1955. But when it was first imagined, it wasn't even going to be for sale.

S i r   H u c h   B e a v e r


Guinness Toucan Poster

The book was the brainchild of Sir Hugh Beaver. The managing director of the Guinness Brewery in Ireland. on November 10, 1951, he got into an argument while hunting with friends out in southeastern Ireland over which was the fastest game bird. Sir Hugh Beaver thought that hundreds of other such things were apparently being discussed and a book of records could resolve these differences.

1 9 5 0' s

It was the '50s, a time when people were smitten with records -- the 4-minute mile, jet speeds, car speeds -- and Sir Hugh Beaver decided to compile a book of records and distribute them to pubs as conversation pieces while patrons enjoyed a pint of Guinness.

M a r k e t   G i v e w a y

"It was a marketing giveaway, it wasn't supposed to be a moneymaker." Sir Hugh Beaver printed 1,000 of the first book and gave them away. The Guinness Book of World Records publishing company eventually opened at 107 Fleet Street in London.


H a r d   B a c k   P u b l i s h e d

The first hard back copy of the 198-page book was bound on August 27th 1955. One year after the series was originally launched in London, the first edition of the Guinness Book of World Records came out in the United States. 70,000 of these books were sold. The Guinness Book of Records English edition is now distributed in 70 different countries with another 22 editions in foreign languages.

G u i n n e s s  B o o k   S u c c e s s

More than 65 million copies were sold world wide by 1990. Only 2000 of the 5000 records that come in each year are published. The other records are recorded but cannot be published because of book size constraints. Guinness Book Video Game High scores were published from [ 1985] - [1987] and then discontinued.
Hard Back American Edition Guinness Books

 1955           1956         1957         1958          1959          1960          1961          1962         1963


   1964          1965           1966          1967          1968          1969          1970          1971          1972


1973          1974             1975          1976          1977          1978          1979          1980          1981


1982          1983          1984          1985          1986          1987          1988          1989          1990


1991          1992          1993          1994          1995          1996          1997           1998          1999


      2000            2001           2002           2003        2004          



Guinness Contests and Video Game Magazine Articles

Original Graphic Content From Twin Galaxies - Walter Day (twingalaxies.com)
Posters can be purchased at the Twin Galaxies Web Site

Original Guinness Book of World Records 2004 Site
[www.guinnessworldrecords.com]



[Video Game History]

[My Biography] [Questions/Answers] [Masters Tournament Article]

[Golden Years Index]

[Coin-Op World Records]



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Biography Commentary Questions





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Tournament and Guinness Book Results From 1983-2004

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The Golden Era

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