NEWS RELEASE: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE               DATE: 10/06/06 CONTACT: LESLIE SCHALER, COMMUNICATIONS ASST., (413) 545-0162 UMASS AMHERST LIBRARIES HOSTS AN EXHIBIT OF BOOKPLATES FROM CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE Amherst, MA – The UMass Amherst Library hosts an exhibit from October 15 through November 30 on the lower level of the W.E.B. Du Bois Library.  The exhibit includes bookplates from Central and Eastern Europe from the collection of Halina and Robert Rothstein.  Robert A. Rothstein is Amesbury Professor of Polish Language, Literature and Culture at UMass Amherst. Halina Rothstein will give a walking tour of the exhibit on Tuesday, November 7 at 4 p.m.  It is free and open to the public; refreshments will be served.  Bookplates, also known as ex-libris, have been placed in books since the 15th century to declare ownership. And, since then, book collectors have been commissioning artists to create bookplates for their libraries. Since the late nineteenth century the bookplates themselves have become the object of collectors.  Among the artists who have designed bookplates are Albrecht Dürer, William Hogarth, Aubrey Beardsley, Paul Klee, Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali, as well as such local figures as Barry Moser and the late Leonard Baskin. Eastern Europe has an especially rich tradition in graphic arts, and some of the best ex-libris produced today are by Russian, Czech, Slovak, and Southeast European artists, according to the International Federation of Ex-Libris Societies. For more information, contact Barbara Stewart at stew@library.umass.edu or 577-2634.