PURPOSE: To record a half tone of good quality without degradating the resolution by shifting an electrode after forming an electrostatic image on an electrostatic recording paper and applying a voltage having the opposite polarity to obtain an electrostatic image having a required size.

CONSTITUTION: A recording electrode 4 is arranged on an electrostatic recording paper 1, and the electrode 4 consists of a positive power source 7, a negative power source 8, a changeover switch 9, etc. When the changeover switch 9 is connected to the negative electrode 8 and is switched back to an earth 6, an electrostatic image 10 is formed on the recording paper. Next, when the electrode 4 is shifted by an extent corresponding to a half of the length of a picture element and the switch 9 is connected to the positive power source 7 and is switched back to the earth 6, the crescent negative electrostatic image 10 remains. This image is developed with a positively charged toner to obtain a toner image. Thus, the half tone is recorded without degrading the resolution, and picture elements are made small-sized to form a uniform image.