A receiver base receives from below a front end portion of a label that is fed forward from a folded-back portion of an release paper and droops forward, so that the label is held in a predetermined forwardly and downwardly inclined posture. In a process of separating and feeding the label in such a statewhere part of a rear end of the label is joined and held onto the release paper, a suction head having a downward suction surface that is inclined forward and downward is brought closer to a top surface of the label being separated so as to suck the label.