A front lay device for a sheet-fed rotary printing press comprising a feed table, a stop shaft disposed downwardly of a front end of the feed table and reciprocably angularly movable about its own axis, a stop holder mounted on the stop shaft and having a stop located adjacent to the front end of the feed table, a swingable hold-down member pivotably mounted by a pivot shaft on the stop holder and having a hook-shaped distal end disposed adjacent to the front end of the feed table, a cam shaft rotatable in synchronization with the stop shaft for driving the swingable hold-down member, and a link shaft drivable by the drive shaft for reciprocable movement about its own axis. The pivot shaft and the link shaft are operatively connected by a quadruplet link mechanism for lifting the swingable hold-down member from an upper surface of the front end of the feed table when a sheet is delivered onto the latter, and for bringing the swingable hold-down member toward the feed table to hold the sheet down against the feed table, while the stop shaft makes a single reciprocable angular movement.