The One to Keep
A signed first printing of the book she gives away
The ask
A friend of thirty years has just been named head of the school where she first taught. For a decade she has handed every new teacher a copy of the same book on effort and growth, and she has never kept one. Something for her, and a few for them. Around $1,000.
The gift
A first printing of Mindset (2006) by Carol S. Dweck, in its original jacket and signed by the author, with a written note on its condition. It is fitted to a cloth box made to measure, with the date of her appointment tooled on the spine. Beside it, a carton of twenty copies of the current edition, for her to keep handing out. All of it arrives in the linen box with a wax-sealed card.
Why it's extraordinary
Every copy she has owned went to someone else. This one is from the first printing of 2006, carries the author's signature, and comes with twenty more, so she can keep it and keep giving.
The moment
The signed copy stays on the shelf behind her desk. The carton is empty before the first year is out.
A curator replies within one business day.
