PURPOSE: To obtain a printing method for a condensed font being well-balanced and high in printing speed.

CONSTITUTION: A font is condensed by reducing the number of dot arrangements in the line direction of the font representing characters or graphics by matrix- arranged dots and is provided with a memory (ROM), where information for specifying which dots in the font to be thinned for each character or graphic is stored, and a means for thinning the dots for each character or graphic according to the contents of this memory (ROM).