PURPOSE: To provide a thermal recorder with a minimized waste of a paper by rolling the cut end thereof back to the place near the contact point between a back roller and a recording head while the paper is kept tensioned.

CONSTITUTION: This thermal recorder is equipped with a means of rolling back a recording paper by a specified length after the cutting thereof and a means of invariably keeping the recording paper tensioned absorbing the excess of the recording paper associated with the rolling back by applying a press force thereto in a specified direction. Receiving a pulse detecting the cutting with a cutter 7, a motor controller 11 feeds to a motor 9 a pulse necessary for rolling back the recording paper 2 from the state (a) to the state (b). Consequently, the motor 9 reverses and stops at the position (b). This forces the recording paper 2 to produce an excess corresponding to the rolling back but the paper is pressed by the pressing force of a spring 12 in the direction of the arrow A so as to be always kept tensioned.