Wash your hands before reading this book

So demands a label found in a 1938 children's book from a Minneapolis school library. What would you call this piece of ephemera? Not a book label, I wouldn't think. That denotes ownership. It was pasted in like a label or bookplate. I guess it just falls under miscellaneous labels or something to that effect. I'm new to collecting bookplates and labels, but have encountered many over the years browsing and collecting books. I've never see one like this. And I wonder how many kids saw this label, put the book back down, and ran to wash their hands before proceeding?

Not much information on this label to determine its origin. The book's publication date helps place it circa 1938 or later. The cartoonish figures are reminiscent of the Tin Man from the film, The Wizard of Oz, which premiered in 1939. If that likeness was "borrowed" to connect with the kids, the labels would have been printed around 1939 or 1940. There is a copyright mark and an indicator that this is no. 6 in a series. Series of what, I don't know. A series on how to treat books? Not about children's hygiene, as the message on the label stresses preservation of the book. Today, such a label, more reflective of our germaphobe times, might demand that you wash your hands after reading this book.

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