See Old Library Books Come to Life in Kerry Mansfield’s Expired Series

2 minute read

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 “Once they are too abused or out of date they’re written off as ‘withdrawn’, ‘removed’, ‘expired’, and taken out of circulation….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; the Expired monograph will be published in 2016.

The Little Prince, Covers Front & Back
The Little Prince, Covers Front & BackKerry Mansfield
Bonjour Babar, Interior Back Spread
Bonjour Babar, Interior Back SpreadKerry Mansfield
Charlotte's Web, Interior Back Spread
Charlotte's Web, Interior Back SpreadKerry Mansfield
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Interior Back Spread
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Interior Back SpreadKerry Mansfield
All About Dinosaurs, Interior Right Page
All About Dinosaurs, Interior Right PageKerry Mansfield
All About Dinosaurs, Puncture Stamp
All About Dinosaurs, Puncture Stamp Kerry Mansfield
Time for Fairy Tales Old & New, Interior Graffiti
Time for Fairy Tales Old & New, Interior Graffiti Kerry Mansfield
Snipp, Snapp, Snurr and the Yellow Sled, Interior Right Page
Snipp, Snapp, Snurr and the Yellow Sled, Interior Right PageKerry Mansfield
Multiple Spines, Hardy Boys Set
Multiple Spines, Hardy Boys SetKerry Mansfield
Hardy Boys Set, Back Covers
Hardy Boys Set, Back CoversKerry Mansfield
The First Book of Animal Signs, Interior Left Page
The First Book of Animal Signs, Interior Left PageKerry Mansfield
Lasso Your Heart, Interior Right Page
Lasso Your Heart, Interior Right PageKerry Mansfield
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Interior Back Spread
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Interior Back SpreadKerry Mansfield
Multiple Spines, Classics, Treasure Island, Cannery Row, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
Multiple Spines, Treasure Island, Cannery Row, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the SeaKerry Mansfield
House on a Cliff, Interior Illustration
House on a Cliff, Interior Illustration Kerry Mansfield

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