These Guinness books for sale are ideal Birthday year gifts. They can be chosen according to the year of publication or by the front cover edition year. From 1979 onwards, the publication year was in October, with the front cover edition year being the subsequent year – For example, the 1980 red edition was printed in 1979, the 1981 blue edition was printed in 1980 and so on.  When deciding upon a book for the birthday year, choosing either the publication year or edition year is entirely up to you.