Abstract: In an ink jet recording apparatus including a carriage operative to move in scanning motion for printing characters and symbols on a printing surface and supporting thereon a single printing head having a plurality of ink jet nozzles or a plurality of printing heads each having a single ink jet nozzle, the printing surface is formed as a curved surface and the printing head or heads are constructed such that ink can be ejected radially with respect to the center of curvature of the curved printing surface. The vertical spacing between dots formed by ejected ink can be adjusted by moving the printing head or heads relative to the printing surface to thereby adjust the spacing between the printing surface and the printing head or heads, and the transverse spacing between the dots can be adjusted by adjusting the scanning speed of the printing head or heads or the ink ejecting timing.