(excerpt from Field Museum of Natural History Bulletin, June 1988, "Traditions in Japanese Art: The Boone Collection," by Suzanne Arata and Carolyn Moore, pg. 25)
"Early Japanese books were printed entirely from woodblocks. Printing was done on a highly absorbent paper on one side only, then folded to form pages and were bound. Although Korean and European movable type was known and used at the beginning of the 17th century, woodblock printing continued to be the preferred method throughout the Edo period (1615-1867), during which books were first printed for mass distribution, and remained in general use until the Meiji period (1868-1912).
"The pages shown here are from an artist's album published by Watanabe Seitei, one of the most refined of the Meiji bird and flower painters. His study of European art led him toward a tendency to express natural forms in fragile, reticent lines and colors in delicate nuances. These characteristics, while seeming to deny the woodcut medium, are exquisitely captured."