To provide a sheet member conveying device reducing the assembly labor by suppressing the increase in the number of components even when a curved path section having the level difference in the direction of the gravity is provided in a middle of a conveying path, and a recording device having the same.

The sheet member conveying device includes a paper feed roller 17 for feeding flexible paper sheets 12 one by one downstream of the conveying direction, an inversion mechanism 14 having a holding unit 23 capable of holding the paper sheet 12 fed out by the paper feed roller 17 from surface and back sides of the paper sheet 12, and turnable so that the holding unit 23 depicts a curved moving track having the level difference in the direction of the gravity around a turning shaft 22 extending along the width direction of the paper sheet 12 across the conveying direction of the paper sheet 12, a turning motor for turning the holding unit 23 in the inversion mechanism 14, and a control unit for controlling the drive of the turning motor. The control unit conveys the paper sheet 12 from the upstream side to the downstream side of the conveying direction by driving the turning motor while the holding unit 23 holds the paper sheet 12.