An ink furnishing apparatus for a printing press for performing printing by furnishing an ink to a printing plate on a plate cylinder is selectively operable in an entire surface ink furnishing mode, in which a first gap is held fully opened, the doctor means is placed in contact with the metering roller, ink drawn through the fully opened first gap in a thickness corresponding to the first gap by rotation of the fountain roller, is furnished in an excess amount of ink onto the peripheral surface of the metering roller, the extra amount of ink on the peripheral surface is scraped off by means of the doctor means contacting with the peripheral surface of the metering roller to return to the ink fountain, and the ink is furnished onto a printing plate in a plate cylinder via the peripheral surface of the form roller in substantially uniform amount over the entire position along the axis of the metering roller, and in a local ink furnishing mode, in which the first gap is adjusted to be narrower with respect to divided divided zones by adjusting means, the doctor means is released away from the peripheral surface of the metering roller, the ink drawn from the ink fountain by rotation of the fountain roller per each separated zones in the desired thickness is furnished on the peripheral surface of the metering roller.