paste as thin as that used by
binders in pasting their fly-leaves, or their leather, or about the
consistency of porridge or pea soup. Then lay the label or book-plate
face downward on a board or table covered with blotting paper, dip your
paste brush (a half inch bristle brush is the best) in the paste, stroke
it (to remove too much adhering matter) on the inner side of your paste
cup, then apply it across the whole surface of the label, with light,
even strokes of the brush, until you see that it is all moistened with
paste. Next, take up the label and lay it evenly in the middle of the
left inner cover page of the book to be labelled, and with a small piece
of paper (not with the naked fingers) laid over it, stroke it down firmly
in its place, by rubbing over a few times the incumbent paper. This being
properly done (and it is done by an expert, once learned, very rapidly)
your book-plate will be firmly and smoothly pasted in, with no exuding
of paste at the edges, to spoil the fly-leaves, and no curling up of
edges because insufficiently pasted down.

So much for the book-plate--for the inside of the volumes; now let us
turn attention to the outside label. This is necessarily very much
smaller than the book-plate: in fact, it should not be larger than
three-quarters or seven-eighths of an inch in diameter, and even smaller
for the thinner volumes, while in the case of the very smallest, or
thinnest of books, it becomes necessary to paste the labels on the side,
instead of on the back. This label is to contain the section and
shelf-mark of the book, marked by plain figures, according to the plan of
classification adopted. When well done, it is an inexpressible comfort to
any librarian, because it shows at one glance of the eye, and without
opening the book at all, just where in the wide range of the
miscellaneous library it is to go. Thus the book service of every day is
incalculably aided, and the books are both found when sought on the
shelves, and replaced there, with no trouble of opening them.

This outer-label system once established, in strict correspondence with
the catalogue, the only part of the librarian's work remaining to be
prescribed in this field, concerns the kind of label to be selected, and
the method of affixing them to the books. The adhesive gummed labels
furnished by the Library Bureau, or those manufactured by the Dennison
Company of New York have the requisite qualities for practical use. The