The device enables a free-standing package to be formed with an open, light structure for packing a bundle of individual flat articles placed in direct juxtaposition and aligned along a straight longitudinal axis in the direction of the thickness of the flat articles. The device includes a pair of individual rigid lateral supports which are opposite each other and which rest directly on the respective sides of the bundle. The rigidity of the flat articles in the width direction is used to form the free-standing package. In particular the device enables the longitudinal compression of the flat articles to be controlled, which is useful in the case of flat articles which have a shape memory, such as folding cartons.