indicates ion modulating electrodes composed of a segmented layer of a conductive material as control electrodes 32a and common electrodes 32b which are divided into an n number of groups and are subjected to group control by the action of the switching circuit 31 on the other hand the control electrode 32a of the ion modulating electrodes 32 are connected to a control electrode switching circuit 33 numerals 34 and 35 indicate a latch circuit and a shift register respectively the image signals are produced by converting the optical image of a document 36 to be recorded through a lens 37 by the action of a ccd 38 incidentally a charge retaining member on which an electrostatic latent image is formed by the actions of the ion modulating electrodes 32 as well as the developing unit the transfer unit and the fixing unit are omitted from fig6 the manner of designating that portion of the document to be extracted or erased is similar to that which has already been described with reference to fig2 and 3 the operations of the electrostatic recording apparatus shown in fig6 will be described in the following by way of example the image signals to be fed out of the ccd 38 are assumed.