PURPOSE: To exhibit an excellent suitability for printing a rough surface sheet and a smooth sheet by incorporating a hydrocarbon resin embedded finely dispersively in a paraffin in an adhesive layer.

CONSTITUTION: In an adhesive layer of a thermal ink ribbon, as a main component, a paraffin such as a microwax, ceresin, petrolatum or the like is used. This layer contains about 10 to 45 wt.% of an adhesive hydrocarbon resin, and its layer thickness is about 0.2 to 10 μm. The layer may be added with other wax, inert filler or the like to obtain an additional effect. The layer is formed by coating a surface of the molten ink with a melt containing paraffin material and adhesive hydrocarbon resin by using a doctor or the like. In this case, the resin is precipitated in the case of cooling, and shielded in embedded in the paraffin. This resin is again melted in a printing step to exhibit an object operation. Thus, the ribbon having excellent storage stability is obtained.