PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 27, 2006

CONTACT:Jennifer Hanna
301/405-9336
jhanna@umd.edu

EARLY WORKS OF LEGENDARY JAPANESE ARTIST TEZUKA DISCOVERED IN UM LIBRARIES' PRANGE COLLECTIONS

College Park, MD – Five early drawings by Osamu Tezuka, widely credited as the most influential animator in Japan, have been discovered in the Gordon W. Prange Collection at the University of Maryland Libraries. The Prange Collection is the most comprehensive in existence of publications issued in Japan during the immediate post-World War II years, 1945-49.

Among the works found were three to twelve-frame comic strips, as well as a 16-page comic called ‘Hans and the Golden Hair.’ The existence of these pieces had long been forgotten, as both the manuscript copies and corresponding records had been lost. The distinctive ‘large eyes’-style of Japanese anime (animation) was invented by Tezuka, who was also the creator of ‘Astro Boy’ and ‘Kimba the White Lion.’

The Tezuka drawings were discovered by Dr. Takeshi Tanikawa, an assistant professor at Waseda University in Tokyo. Dr. Tanikawa is part of a group of experts headed by Professor Taketoshi Yamamoto, also at Waseda University, who created an online database of the Prange Collection’s magazine holdings. The Tezuka drawings were uncovered in the process of categorizing the magazines for the database.

The University of Maryland is the only nationally-ranked public university in the Baltimore/Washington area. With a total student enrollment approaching 40,000, the University is supported in its academic endeavors by the University of Maryland Libraries, a system comprised of eight libraries and more than three million volumes. The University of Maryland Libraries represent the largest library system in the state.

For more information on the University of Maryland Libraries and the Gordon W. Prange Collection, please visit www.lib.umd.edu.