PURPOSE: To imprint additional data during copy formation by providing a liquid-crystal display plate and its driving device in a copying machine, displaying necessary characters by external operation, and forming an image of those characters on a photosensitive drum through an image formation optical system.

CONSTITUTION: Light from a light source 2 which illuminates an original is passed through mirrors 3 and 4, a lens 5, and a fixed mirror 6 to form an image on the photosensitive drum 7. A control circuit 15, on the other hand, generates a code signal for a character specified by pressing a button 16 for display plate operation provided on the copying machine, and the necessary character is stored and displayed on a liquid crystal display plate 10 successively. The control circuit 15 turns on a light source 9 by receiving a timing control signal for data imprinting from a synchronism control circuit 17 during the operation of the copying machine, and imprints the character displayed on the display plate 10 on the photosensitive drum 7 together with an original image.