A thermal transfer printer includes: a peeling roller which is disposed downstream of a printing position set between a thermal head and a platen roller and defines a peeling start position of an ink ribbon; and a tension plate which is disposed on a further downstream side than the peeling roller and slidably stretches the ink ribbon under a tension relative to the printing position, via the peeling roller. With a back tension being ensured by means of the tension plate to prevent slackness of the ink ribbon, the peeling roller performs peeling, thereby avoiding retention of dust or the like and the lowered quality of paper due to such retention. In this manner, problems such as wrinkles occurring with the ink ribbon are eliminated without damaging paper, and further, improvement of printing quality is compatible with that of paper quality, through a design based upon a mechanism concerning the occurrence of wrinkles.