To obtain a manual printer in which standard print results can be ensured at all times by altering the print timing depending on the fluctuation in the distance between a recording head and a print face.

The distance between a recording head and a recording medium is detected (S11) and compared with a distance detected at the time of previous dot array printing (S12). When the current distance is longer than the previous distance, the interval of delivering a print timing signal is shortened (S15) otherwise the interval is lengthened (S16). A dot array data is then printed according to a print timing thus corrected (14). According to the arrangement, good print results are obtained constantly even if the distance between the recording head and the recording medium is different for each ink jet position.