An ink ribbon is formed from a belt shaped sheet body, and is wound around a pair of tubes. Spools are detachably mounted at each end of the tube bodies. An ink ribbon cartridge includes side plates formed with supporting openings for supporting corresponding spools. When the ink ribbon cartridge is mounted in a printing device, the spools are freely rotatable within the supporting openings. A protrusion is formed in an upper surface of the takeup-side of the cartridge. The protrusion provides a handle and an opening is formed in the takeup-side upper surface beneath the protrusion.