images © Kerry Mansfield.

At the end of a valuable cultural carrier and after thousands of readers, time comes for a library book to be dismissed, normally because of physical decay reasons.

Dog-eared pages, ripped covers, scribbles, tea or coffee spots and other damages and imperfections tell the story of books which weren’t left on shelves but were instead intensively used, and loved. US photographer Kerry Mansfield tributes homage to such veterans, now discarded and neglected, in a photobook tiled Expired.

“After culling through thousands of books, each one of the selection was chosen for specific characteristics that best display the love poured into library books over their years on the stacks. Currently over 180 ex-library books have been individually photographed. Every one was assessed, lovingly documented and alphabetically archived.” says the artist.

Website: http://www.kerrymansfield.com/expiredthebook/