A hand-held manually sweeping printing apparatus includes a manually manipulatable housing. A data input section, a memory, a printer head, a roll of ink ribbon, and an encoder are mounted within the housing. When a user holds the microcopier and sweeps it across a piece of paper, the printer head can print image data on the paper. Since the printer head is movable in response to various conditions caused by the pressure applied to the piece of paper, or surface conditions of the paper, a high-quality printing is realized. The data input section may be replaced by an image sensor, in which case the information on an original can be read and reproduced on the piece of paper.