A black dye ink for ink-jet recording containing a black dye, a color dye for toning, a water-soluble
organic solvent and water, satisfies the following inequalities (1) and (2) simultaneously:ODimax(0)−ODimin(0)≦0.15, and (1)ODimax(1)−ODimin(1)≦0.15, (2)where ODimax(0) and ODimin(0) are maximum and minimum optical densities, respectively, of ODiy(0), ODim(0) and ODic(0) which are the optical densities of Y, M and C color components, respectively, of a
solid black printed portion printed on glossy paper with the black dye ink and having an average
optical density of about 0.9 or more and about 1.1 or less; andODimax(1) and ODimin(1) are maximum and minimum optical densities, respectively, of ODiy(1), ODim(1) and ODic(1) which are the optical densities of the Y, M and C color components, respectively, after a predetermined light fastness test is performed on the
solid black printed portion.