fukuro-e 袋絵

The woodblock-printed paper that formed the outer covers for prints and woodblock books. In the 1770s-80s it became popular to sell woodblock-printed books in covers, and by the early 19th century almost all books were sold this way. Generally, the designs and pictures for these outer covers were more symbolic and less directly related to the contents of the books than designs found on cover pages, hyōshi-e 表紙絵. Prints were also enclosed in decorated, multi-colored printed covers from the early 1760s-70s. Some of Katsushika Hokusai's 葛飾北斎 (1760-1849) prints, such as the Eight Views of Edo, Edo hakkei 江戸八景, were sold in series with covers.