Discover some of the awesome rare books we found in 2022 and what makes them special in this piece by Tom Kitson, Head of the Rare & Antiquarian division

My name is Tom Kitson and I have been running the Rare and Antiquarian section at AwesomeBooks for 10 years. I run a team of 9 people whose job is to identify all valuable, rare and interesting books and provide detailed specialist listings of such books. During this time we have seen some incredible finds, from 17th century bibles, to signed books from Kipling, Conan Doyle and many other authors of note.

Over the last year, we have had 2 finds that stand out particularly.

Animal Farm — First Edition

The first was a 1st edition copy of Animal Farm. This is one of my favourite books so was a really exciting find for me personally. I particularly love the history and politics behind the book and the impact that a book of only 93 pages had.

Gray’s Anatomy — 3rd Edition published in 1864

The other find was a 3rd edition copy of Gray’s Anatomy from 1864. As one of the first accurate medical books, this book really represents the birth of modern medicine and early editions such as this one are incredibly rare. The colour illustrations are particularly impressive and are in perfect condition.