diff --git a/lib/srfi/38.scm b/lib/srfi/38.scm
index 14399cf2..63afc91c 100644
--- a/lib/srfi/38.scm
+++ b/lib/srfi/38.scm
@@ -275,6 +275,8 @@
                         (thunk (lambda () (car cell))))
                    (set! shared (cons (cons n thunk) shared))
                    (let ((x (read-one in)))
+                     (if (hole? x)
+                         (read-error "read error: self label reference" n))
                      (set-car! cell x)
                      x)))
                 ((eqv? #\# (peek-char in))
diff --git a/sexp.c b/sexp.c
index c1cb2197..0017ad9d 100644
--- a/sexp.c
+++ b/sexp.c
@@ -2871,10 +2871,8 @@ sexp sexp_read_raw (sexp ctx, sexp in, sexp *shares) {
         if (tmp >
             sexp_fx_add(sexp_vector_data(*shares)[sexp_vector_length(*shares)-1],
                         sexp_make_fixnum(16))) {
-          fprintf(stderr, "%d - 16 > %ld\n", c2, sexp_unbox_fixnum(sexp_vector_data(*shares)[sexp_vector_length(*shares)-1]));
           res = sexp_read_error(ctx, "reader label out of order", tmp, in);
-        }
-        else {
+        } else {
           if (c2 + 1 >= sexp_vector_length(*shares)) {
             tmp2 = sexp_make_vector(ctx, sexp_make_fixnum(sexp_vector_length(*shares)*2), SEXP_VOID);
             memcpy(sexp_vector_data(tmp2), sexp_vector_data(*shares), (sexp_vector_length(*shares)-1)*sizeof(sexp));
@@ -2884,7 +2882,10 @@ sexp sexp_read_raw (sexp ctx, sexp in, sexp *shares) {
           if (tmp > sexp_vector_data(*shares)[sexp_vector_length(*shares)-1])
             sexp_vector_data(*shares)[sexp_vector_length(*shares)-1] = tmp;
           res = sexp_read_raw(ctx, in, shares);
-          sexp_vector_data(*shares)[c2] = res;
+          if (sexp_reader_labelp(res))
+            res = sexp_read_error(ctx, "self reader label reference", tmp, in);
+          else
+            sexp_vector_data(*shares)[c2] = res;
         }
       } else {
         res = sexp_read_error(ctx, "expected # or = after #<n>", sexp_make_character(c1), in);