The invention relates to a device for producing a book page index for facilitating the search for certain sections in a book. The device includes a bearing surface (1) on which a pile (3) of pages is placed. According to the invention, an index notch or thumb section (31) is to be formed on the upper region of the pile, along the front edge (7). To this end, preferably a circular, disk-shaped cutter head (17) is used, the cutter head having a cutting contour (21) on the circumference thereof. The device includes at least one displacement device (19) for moving the support and the cutter head towards or away from each other, so that the notch or thumb section to be formed can be produced on the front edge by means of the cutter head. The height of the thumb index can be set by lowering the bearing surface.