There is described a sheet inspection 
system for a sheet-fed recto-verso 
printing press of the type comprising two printing cylinders (10, 20) for carrying out simultaneous recto-verso printing of the sheets, said sheet inspection 
system comprising at least a first inspection device (100) for taking an image of a first side of the printed sheets. The first inspection device (100) comprises a first line 
image sensor (110) for performing line-scanning 
image acquisition of the first side of the printed sheets, and the first inspection device (100) is disposed in such a way that the first line 
image sensor visually acquires an image of a printed sheet while the said printed sheet is still adhering onto the surface of a first one (10) of the two printing cylinders (10, 20) of the 
printing press and immediately before the said printed sheet is transferred to a chain gripper 
system (5) of the 
printing press. Also described is a printing press equipped with the inspection system.