--- title: Old Library Books in Kerry Mansfield’s Expired Series description: As the 66th National Book Awards Ceremony is held in New York City on Wednesday, admire the magnificence of the library book canonical: https://time.com/4114423/kerry-mansfield-expired-old-library-books/ author: TIME Photo article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-18T17:55:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:00:55.859Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: See Old Library Books Come to Life in Kerry Mansfield’s 'Expired' Series og:description: As the 66th National Book Awards Ceremony is held in New York City on Wednesday, admire the magnificence of the library book og:url: https://time.com/4114423/kerry-mansfield-expired-old-library-books/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt787a4a287521c42e/698871473c163942e845abda/lcbp_31_0113_18x241.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: The Little Prince, Covers Front & Back og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See Old Library Books Come to Life in Kerry Mansfield’s 'Expired' Series twitter:description: As the 66th National Book Awards Ceremony is held in New York City on Wednesday, admire the magnificence of the library book twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt787a4a287521c42e/698871473c163942e845abda/lcbp_31_0113_18x241.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # See Old Library Books Come to Life in Kerry Mansfield’s _Expired_ Series by [TIME Photo](https://time.com/author/time-photo/) ## TIME Photo Nov 18, 2015 5:55 PM UTC  The Little Prince, Covers Front & Back The Little Prince, Covers Front & BackKerry Mansfield by [TIME Photo](https://time.com/author/time-photo/) ## TIME Photo Nov 18, 2015 5:55 PM UTC Kerry Mansfield finds beauty in imperfection. In 2013, the San Francisco-based photographer created a series of images of worn library books entitled _Expired,_ capturing the water damage, tears and hand-written scrawls that make each book unique. Mansfield was inspired to start her project after spotting an old library checkout card inside a book she found at Goodwill, which made her nostalgic for the experience of libraries before books and card catalogues were digitized. She then spent more than two years collecting at least 160 former library books she found through nonprofits, eBay, libraries, garage sales and even individual submissions. They are all “books that have lived in at least one public library, often many more,” she said. “Once they are too abused or out of date they’re written off as ‘withdrawn’, ‘removed’, ‘expired’, and taken out of circulation…. The unlucky ones get recycled back into pulp.” Mansfield’s goal was to bring these damaged books back to life through photography, treating each as if it were a relic to be revered. She is not interested in the books that have been carefully preserved, but rather the ones that show their age. “I hunt those down because the truly, amazingly used ones shouldn’t be forgotten,” she said. More of Kerry Mansfield’s work can be found [on her website](http://www.kerrymansfield.com/Artist.asp?ArtistID=40025&Akey=J83G789M); the _Expired_ monograph will be published in 2016.  The Little Prince, Covers Front & Back Kerry Mansfield  Bonjour Babar, Interior Back Spread Kerry Mansfield  Charlotte's Web, Interior Back Spread Kerry Mansfield  Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Interior Back Spread Kerry Mansfield  All About Dinosaurs, Interior Right Page Kerry Mansfield  All About Dinosaurs, Puncture Stamp Kerry Mansfield  Time for Fairy Tales Old & New, Interior Graffiti Kerry Mansfield  Snipp, Snapp, Snurr and the Yellow Sled, Interior Right Page Kerry Mansfield  Multiple Spines, Hardy Boys Set Kerry Mansfield  Hardy Boys Set, Back Covers Kerry Mansfield  The First Book of Animal Signs, Interior Left Page Kerry Mansfield  Lasso Your Heart, Interior Right Page Kerry Mansfield  Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Interior Back Spread Kerry Mansfield  Multiple Spines, Treasure Island, Cannery Row, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea Kerry Mansfield  House on a Cliff, Interior Illustration Kerry Mansfield ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4114423/kerry-mansfield-expired-old-library-books/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4114423/kerry-mansfield-expired-old-library-books/"},"headline":"See Old Library Books Come to Life in Kerry Mansfield’s Expired Series","datePublished":"2015-11-18T17:55:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:00:55.859Z","description":"As the 66th National Book Awards Ceremony is held in New York City on Wednesday, admire the magnificence of the library book","url":"https://time.com/4114423/kerry-mansfield-expired-old-library-books/","keywords":["photography"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt787a4a287521c42e/698871473c163942e845abda/lcbp_31_0113_18x241.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Photo","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-photo/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt787a4a287521c42e/698871473c163942e845abda/lcbp_31_0113_18x241.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The Little Prince, Covers Front & Back","caption":"The Little Prince, Covers Front & Back","creditText":"Kerry Mansfield","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/photography/","name":"photography"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4114423/kerry-mansfield-expired-old-library-books/","name":"See Old Library Books Come to Life in Kerry Mansfield’s Expired Series"}}]}] ```