use of the book holder is aided by a brace means 13 and 13a which holds the cover 12 in a supported position while a new book is being placed in the book holder 15 one of the unique features of the present invention is the independently opeating book lifting means 20 and 20a shown best in fig3 which as illustrated are mounted on springs 18 or other equally acting means the book lifting means 20 and 20a operate in an up and down mode and are in a side by side relationship they operate to cause a constant pressure of the book 39 s pages against the transparent cover 12 regardless of the relative thickness of either half of the book being filmed this is the feature that provides uniform good quality filming of the books 39 written material one of the most sought after goals of the microfilming industry guides 16 and 16a are positioned on the front and rear walls of book holder 15 in order to prevent lateral movement of the book lifting means 20 in fig3 rear guide 16b and an opposite guide not visible is shown serving the same purpose for book lifting means 20a it is intended that the illustrated guiding means shown and described above are by way of example only they may be omitted without seriously affecting the operation of the present invention in addition their location and number is not critical for example a series of guides may be used and they may be placed in virtually any configuration which provides a steady and easy vertical movement of the book lifting means 20.