Kuchi-e were woodblock prints used as foldout frontispieces for novels or  inserts into magazines from around 1895 to 1915.  They were meant as a visual aid and as a sales promotion at the same time.
In competition with Western lithographic or photo-mechanical printing techniques modern to the times, kuchi-e were usually well executed, sometimes in deluxe printing with such lavish techniques as mica or embossing.  The main subjects were bijin-ga or beautiful women, often in a Western style presaging the Taisho modern women.  
For more on kuchi-e, please refer to:
"Woodblock Kuchi-e Prints" by Helen Merritt and Nanako Yamada.